.SHOP TALKS 


Edward Russell Seaeaed 











SHOP TALKS 


A SERIES OF ADDRESSES ON JESUS CHRIST 
AND His Discretes, DELIVERED AT 
Noon Hour PEriops To 
Workinc MEN 


By 
EDWARD RUSSELL STAFFORD 


With an Introduction by 


Tue Rev. Levi GivBert, D. D., 


* Editor of the Western Christian Advocate 


CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 
New York: Eaton anp MaIns 





CONTENTS 


PREFACE, - - - - - 


INTRODUCTION—THE Rev. LEvI 
GILBERT, D. D., - - - 


Tue TRUMPETER OF JUBILEE, 


Kine JEsus, - - - - - 


JEsUS THE DEMOCRAT, - - 
JESUS THE SOCIALIST, - = 2 
JESUS AND MopERN SOCIALISM, - 
JESUS THE CITIZEN, : s : 
JESUS THE CONSERVATIVE RADICAL, 
THE Economic EmpirE, - = : 
THE SociaAL VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN, 
JupDas IscaRioT, - “ 2 4 
JupDAs IscarRloT—CoNnTINUED, - 
Simon PETER, - a c 3 
Simon PETER—CONTINUED, - 
JESUS AND DOUBTERS,-  - - = 


131 
139 
149 
159 
171 
185 





PREFACE 





I am not willing that any one should be- 
gin reading ‘‘Suorp Tatxs’’ under a false 
impression of their value. He who desires 
a learned discussion of modern industrial 
problems must turn to some of the books 
hereinafter mentioned. This book contains 
merely a few short and simple speeches de- 
livered by a preacher to a small company 
of artisans. The purpose was to put into 
familiar language and popular form a few 
studies of Jesus of Nazareth from the stand- 
point of sociology. That easy task is done, 
and the fruit of my plan and work is be- 
fore you. 

These talks were spoken to the men who 
worked in Strecker Brothers Harness Fac- 
tory, Marietta, Ohio, from January 21st to 
May 1, 1909. The meetings were held on 
the fourth floor of the factory, and were in 
charge of the local Young Men’s Christian 
Association secretary, Mr. W. V. Hays. The 
workmen, the Messrs. Strecker, and Mr. C. 

5 


PREFACE 


R. Stevens, president of the Stevens Organ 
and Piano Company, manufacturers of pipe 
organs, who assisted with the music, were 
all kind enough to receive the talks with fa- 
vor. To the politeness of the few hearers is 
due this seeking of a larger audience. The 
addresses were given almost word for word 
as they appear in this volume, with the sin- 
gle exception of ‘‘The Economic Empire,’’ 
which is an elaboration of the ideas pre- 
sented under the same title to the workmen. 
Questions were asked and answered. The 
Socialists were the only men who asked 
questions. Their questions were honest and 
respectful and were given honest and re- 
spectful consideration. 

But few direct quotations have been made 
from the great leaders in the several realms 
of thought and original research involved in 
these discussions. Yet I am so greatly in- 
debted to many of these men that I can not 
refrain from acknowledging the obligation 
by specific mention of their names and works. 
The following list of authors and books, read 
and assimilated in the production of ‘‘Shop 
Talks,’’ will be the most useful part of this 
little volume if it shall serve the purpose of 
introducing the readers hereof to some of 
the master minds of this age. And first let 

. 6 


PREFACE 


mention be made of works having to do di- 
rectly with Jesus of Nazareth: 


‘*Lire anD T1meEs or JEsus, THE MEss1auH.’’— 
Edersheim. 

‘‘Lire oF JEsus.’’—Renan. 

‘‘Lire or Curist.’’—Stalker. 

‘““Tae Lire or Jesus or Nazaretu.’’—Rhees. 

‘““THE Curist oF History.’’—Young. 

*“Kicce Homo.’’—Seeley. 

‘‘THE CuristoLocy or Jrsus.’’—Stalker. 

‘““Tar Son or Man.’’—Alexander. 

‘“Tam Puace oF Curist in Moprern THEOL- 
oey.’’—Fairbairn. 

‘Tre PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHRISTIAN RE- 
LiGion.’’—Fairbairn. 


In the realm of Politicak Economy and 
Sociology the following are prime factors: 


‘‘IntropuctTion to Po.itican Economy.’’— 
Professor Ely. 

*‘Soctan Aspects oF CHRISTIANITY.’’—Pro- 
fessor Ely. 

‘‘SocroLoey anp Potitican Economy.’’—Pro- 
fessor Giddings. 

‘‘Intropuction To Soctotoey.’’—Professor 
Fairbanks. 

‘*PrinciPLes oF SocroLoey.’’—Herbert Spen- 


cer. 
7 


PREFACE 


“‘Data or Erutcs.’’—Herbert Spencer. 

**Socrau Evouution.’’—Benjamin Kidd. 

‘PRINCIPLES OF WESTERN CrIvILIzATION.’’— 
Benjamin Kidd. 

‘“Poverty.’’—Hunter. 

‘*PRoGREss AND Poverty.’’—George. 

““Tar Socran Unrest.’’—Brooks. 

‘*Socraism.’’—Spargo. 

‘A CriticAL EXAMINATION OF SoOCcIALISM.?’— 

Mallock. 

‘‘Tae New Era;’’ ‘‘Ourn Country;’’ ‘‘THE 
TwentietH Century Ciry.’’—Strong. 

‘“MoneEy AND THE MECHANISM OF EXXCHANGE.’’ 

—Jevons. 

‘““Tae Work or Watt Street.’’—Pratt. 

“How tHe Oruer Har Lives.’’—Riis. 

‘““THEe Crown oF Wit Onive.’’—Ruskin. 

‘‘ Jesus CHRIST AND THE SocraL QuEsTION.’’— 
Professor Peabody. 

‘““Tur RELIGION oF AN HEXpucaTep Man.’’— 
Professor Peabody. 

‘‘T HE Socra, TEacutnes or JEesus.’’—Profes- 
sor Matthews. 

‘CHRISTIANITY AND THE SocraL ORIsis.’’— 
Professor Rauschenbusch. 


I would like also in this connection to com- 
mend the various sociological books of Ly- 
man Abbott, Washington Gladden, Professor 


8 


PREFACE 


Jenks, and Professor Ross, none of which, 
however, were read or consulted in the prep- 
aration of ‘‘Shop Talks.’’ Professor Rau- 
schenbusch has made a most notable contri- 
bution to the literature of Sociology. While 
not cast, as a whole, in the formal and ex- 
act mold of scientific discussion, his book 
presents in elegant and eloquent diction the 
approved findings of Science. It is all the 
more influential because both heart and head 
are involved in his conclusions. No book 
has done more toward determining the char- 
acter of this volume than has ‘‘ Christianity 
and the Social Crisis.’? Yet, I trust the 
reader will find on the pages that follow 
something more than a mere reflection of 
light he has already received. 

I undertook the work of which ‘‘Shop 
Talks’’ is the visible fruit as a labor of love. 
My affections go out strongly toward all 
toilers, and I love the Church of the living 
God. I regret the feeling of estrangement 
which many manual laborers have toward 
the Church. I would like to win such men 
to the Church and to our Lord Jesus. I re- 
gret also the hostility existing between Cap- 
ital and Labor. I entertain the fond hope 
that this little book may bear a flag of truce 
between warring factions. It may not be a 


PREFACE. 


distant day when the Carpenter of Naza- 
reth will come into His own in the hearts of 
all who ‘‘labor and are heavy laden.”’ 
‘*Hiven so, come, Lord Jesus.”’ 
Epwarp RussELL STAFFORD. 
Marietta, Ohio, September 10, 1909. 


10 


INTRODUCTION 





A GENEROUS welcome ought to be ex- 
tended to any book which makes a serious 
and sympathetic attempt to bring the arti- 
sans and the Churches into a better mutual 
understanding and co-operation. This vol- 
ume has grown out of a practical effort to 
speak to the religious needs of workingmen 
and to relate the essential truths of Chris- 
tianity to their every-day lives. The Indus- 
trial Situation does not constitute the whole 
of the Social Question, but it is the largest 
and most urgent of the Problems calling for 
solution, and it involves almost every other 
social complication and perplexity. None 
too soon have the Churches awakened to a 
conception of religion as dealing ultimately 
with the corporate salvation of the com- 
munity; as being concerned with the hap- 
piness and well-being—physical, mental, and 
spiritual—of all men; with their right to 
life, liberty, justice, a living wage, reason- 
able hours of toil, decent homes, opportunity 
for rest, recreation, intellectual improve- 

11 


INTRODUCTION 


ment, worship. Individuals are saved to 
serve—to co-operate with Christ in bringing 
in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth; and 
every Church that would meet the demands 
of this age must break away from any nar- 
rowing, selfish, individualistic interpretation 
of Christianity. The religion of Jesus must 
be seen to be as wide as the multiplied erav- 
ings of humanity for higher things in every 
department of life. 

Inconsiderate statements are sometimes 
made that wage-earners as a class are uni- 
versally alienated from the Churches. Such 
representation is wide from the truth. In 
any Church membership the capitalists are 
the few, and the men and women dependent 
upon weekly wages or monthly salaries are 
the many. But, as a general proposition, it 
may be correctly said that organized laborers 
—the membership of the Labor Unions—are, 
with exceptions, out of touch with the 
Churches. This is not to say that they are 
irreligious, or that they have ever formally 
repudiated Christianity. Their leaders have 
sanely guided them away from the rocks of 
any atheistic program of anarchy. In many 
notable gatherings the artisans have enthu- 
siastically joined in the singing of the great 
hymns of our faith; have listened approv- 

12 


INTRODUCTION 


ingly to expositions of vital truth; have 
given warm response to the setting forth of 
the teaching of the Prophet of Nazareth— 
the Galilean Carpenter — Himself a day- 
laborer, with His hands hardened with toil; 
have proclaimed Christian principles in their 
industrial and political programs; have 
found in. the meetings of their Unions that 
spirit of brotherhood which should be a 
never-absent essential in every true and liv- 
ing Church. 

Nevertheless they allege that the Chris- 
tian Church, as now constituted, is too much 
financed and controlled by the moneyed 
classes; that the aristocratic and exclusive 
spirit is too manifest, and poor people are 
not made heartily welcome at the services; 
that too many employers who do not treat 
their employees justly or humanely are 
found worshiping in the churches on Sunday; 
that the preaching is too timid and time- 
serving, and is held in restraint by a craven 
fear of the rich pew-renter and salary-payer ; 
that organized Christianity is quite a differ- 
ent thing from the simple, sympathetic creed 
and life of Jesus; that the Church is not suf- 
ficiently outspoken concerning abuses, op- 
pressions, and injustices, flagrant and noto- 
rious in industrialism, and does not identify 

13 


INTRODUCTION 


herself out and out with the cause of the 
working man in his contention against those 
employers who do not observe the laws of 
equitable and humane treatment of their fel- 
lows. 

It would, perhaps, be difficult to enter a 
universal and explicit denial to all of these 
allegations. Occasionally some clergymen 
retort that the accusations are mostly sub- 
terfuges— excuses for antipathy to the 
Church really arising from dissipations in 
life, disobedience to God’s laws, disinclina- 
tion to repentance, distaste for religion, and 
disregard for the Sabbath. But the Church 
has not been blameless. In some respects, it 
may be, that nearly every Church has sinned 
—has been too subservient, too proud, too 
cautious and fearsome in its pulpit utterance, 
too ecclesiastical and theological, too luke- 
warm in its sympathies, and tongue-tied in 
its official proclamations. But we honestly 
believe that if the artisans who hold an ex- 
treme position as to the alleged derelictions 
of the Church, and who, therefore, will have 
nothing to do with her, would inform them- 
selves more adequately concerning her past 
history, and come to know the spirit and 
purpose that at present animate her, they 
would find their attitude a somewhat exag- 

14 


INTRODUCTION 


gerated and distorted one. What they im- 
“pute to all the Churches would be found to 
apply only to an unfortunate exception here 
and there. 

There has been a lamentable misunder- 
standing on both sides—of the Church by 
the artisans and of the artisans by the 
Church. It were well if, in penitent mood, 
both, confessing that they had not been per- 
fect, should cease mutual recriminations and 
seek a basis of amity and agreement. Hap- 
pily indications are not wanting that such a 
process is now in operation. The Social 
Creed of Protestantism as issued by the 
Commission on Social Service of the Fed- 
eral Council of the Churches of Christ in 
America—a broad, bold, warm-hearted dec- 
laration—has been received by the toilers 
with joyful acclaim and hearty reciprocation. 
The pulpits are filled with men who are 
bravely and lovingly trying to mediate be- 
tween alienated classes, and to show that the 
true Church of Christ is neither for rich or 
poor exclusively, neither for capitalist nor 
wage-earner, employer or employed, but for 
all men and women, without distinction, who 
are to recognize within its walls a real frater- 
nity, based upon common frailties, sinfulness, 
needs and aspirations, and the mutual ne- 

15 


INTRODUCTION 


cessities in their relations to God and each 
other. The Christian press has in many in- 
stances become socialized and is persistently 
advocating the great ideas of justice—of 
fair play and the square deal—between man 
and man, of capitalist with laborer, of laborer 
with capitalist. Not only is United Protes- 
tantism on record in the proclamation just 
cited, but individual denominations are erect- 
ing Bureaus of Religion and Labor, or, more 
broadly, of Social Welfare. The Roman 
Catholic Church and the Hebrews are like- 
wise not indifferent or inactive. 

It is our supreme confidence that Jesus 
Christ holds in His pierced hands the key to 
this industrial entanglement, as for every 
other intricacy and perplexity that vexes 
our race. His words were germinal and of 
universal application. It is indeed wonder- 
ful that a Peasant, living nineteen hundred 
years ago, in a remote corner of the earth, 
amid conditions almost totally dissimilar to 
those of this complex civilization, should 
have anything worth heeding to say to busi- 
ness men and hand-workers in America in 
this tumultuous age. But—and this is one 
large proof of His divineness—this Son of 
Man, characterized by some as a dreamer and 
by others as an impossible idealist, whose 

16 


INTRODUCTION 


teachings are utterly impracticable for this 
era of steam, electricity, huge cities, and in- 
tense competition, is nevertheless making 
Himself distinctly heard. He knew what 
was in man, and He read the human heart, 
with its motives and impulses, for all time. 
His great generalizations are being found 
capable of individual and specific application 
to the bewildering controversies of our gen- 
eration. There is no task more imperative 
than to translate the words of Christ into 
the vernacular of to-day, and to show how 
beneficent and remedial they are, if only men 
would live by them. There is coming a new 
and nobler social order, based on principles 
of eternal righteousness and justice, and 
Jesus Christ is leading the movement and 
calling upon all men of good-will every- 
where to direct it on lines of truth and recti- 
tude. 

The Keynote of Christ’s social teaching 
is His exposition of the Fatherhood of God. 
Says a recent writer on ‘‘The Social Teach- 
ing of Jesus:’’ 

‘“‘The mere expression, ‘Our Father,’ 
placed on every man’s lips by such Author- 
ity involves inferences which in time will 
revolutionize our social relationships. Here, 
for the first time in the development of hu- 

2 17 


INTRODUCTION 


man life, we have the full Charter of the In- 
dividual—a charter which, once divinely re- 
vealed, no human agency will ever be able 
to cancel. Its proclamation has already lib- 
erated the slave and transformed the posi- 
tion of womanhood and childhood. And the 
doom of other social wrongs, though unful- 
filled as yet, was once for all pronounced in 
these epoch-making words of Jesus. Even if 
it seem to tarry, it is approaching with a cer- 
tainty that is irresistible. . . . When He 
puts the prayer for daily bread into every 
man’s lips, the right to live is assumed by 
Christ for every man. Unless the divine or- 
der of the universe is impaired by human 
greed, provision is made for the sustenance 
of the entire human family. Whatever in- 
terests of property, therefore, render it im- 
possible that there shall be food and cloth- 
ing available, under proper conditions for 
all, ipso facto nullify the divine provision 
and are at variance with the divine pur- 
poses.’’ 

The Rev. S. E. Keeble, in his introduc- 
tion to the above-named volume, quotes 
Bishop Westcott as saying that ‘‘the real 
understanding of the Bible rests on the ac- 
knowledgment of its catholicity, or universal 
range, in which it includes in its records typ- 

18 


INTRODUCTION 


ical examples of the dealings of God with 
men under every variety of circumstances 
and being, social and personal;’’ and he him- 
self holds that the Bible has been too ex- 
clusively studied from doctrinal and devo- 
tional standpoints, and that not until we 
study the Bible socially, as well as theolog- 
ically, shall we ever do justice to its marvel- 
ous contents, and to its complete message to 
mankind, or to convince the masses that the 
old Book is the charter of their liberties, 
never too much to be read nor too highly 
prized. He quotes Charles Kingsley in these 
words addressed to working-men: 

‘“We have never told you that the true 
Reformer’s Guide, the poor man’s book, the 
true God’s voice against tyrants, idlers, and 
humbugs, is the Bible. We have told you 
that the Bible preached to you patience, while 
we have not told you that it promised you 
freedom. We have told you that the Bible 
preached the rights of property and the du- 
ties of labor, when (God knows) for once 
that it does that, it preaches ten times over 
the duties of property and the rights of la- 
bor. Instead of being a book to keep the 
poor in order, it is a book, from beginning 
to end, written to keep the rich in order. It 
“is the true Radical Reformer’s Guide, God’s 
19 


INTRODUCTION 


everlasting witness against oppression and 
eruelty and idleness.’’ 

And, for himself, Mr. Keeble adds: 

“‘Could the day ever come when the Bible 
should be proved worthless or untrustworthy, 
that would be the day when the hope of civ- 
ilization would perish, and the guarantee of 
freedom and progress be withdrawn; it 
‘would be the day when earth’s tyrants and 
wrong-doers would again lift up their heads 
and try to prevail over men.’’ 

These are great words, and in their light 
and by their inspiration the Church of Christ 
of to-day must go forward. We believe she 
is not apathetic nor moribund. We are not 
among those who are asking dolorously, 
‘‘What is the matter with the Churches?’’ 
Everywhere there is intelligent interest in 
the issues raised; everywhere stir, progress, 
determination to right wrong conditions in 
the name of a God of justice. Many of the 
situations faced are new and very compli- 
cated and not to be solved in a week or a 
year. Many are hoary with age, widely 
ramified, and rooted in the selfishness, sinful 
habits and vices of men and society. Many 
men whose hearts are deeply stirred within 
them are yet at a loss how to commence in 
any labor of betterment, and are asking in 

20 


INTRODUCTION 


their bewilderment of sociological investiga- 
tors and students, ‘‘What can we do?’’ 
The Church is working on humanitarian 
lines quite as well, seemingly, as the State, 
which facing the same problems, with all 
her vast machinery and resources, still makes 
slow progress in rectifying wrongs and 
bringing about justice and more ideal condi- 
tions. But, instead of asking either ‘‘ What 
is the matter with the Church?’’ or ‘‘ What 
is the matter with the State?’’ let all fol- 
lowers of Christ and lovers of their fellow- 
men go forward without discouragement to 
proclaim the possibility of that Brotherhood 
of Man which flows immediately out of the 
thought of the Fatherhood of God. Let 
them insist that all unfairness and injustice 
on either side of contending factions shall 
cease, and that the two antagonistic camps 
shall be broken up; that there shall be an 
armistice, a truce of God, a spirit of con- 
ciliation that will not refuse to refer any 
dispute whatsoever to arbitration; that, in a 
broad common-sense and a fundamental feel- 
ing of fraternity, employer and laborer shall 
respectively see and acknowledge their re- 
ciprocal relation of dependence, one on the 
other. Let religious believers of whatever 
faith or form come together on this propa- 
21 


INTRODUCTION 


ganda. Let the Nation and States and the 
Cities and all philanthropic organizations 
unite in the endeavor to make religion vital 
and effective in all industrial relationships 
and in the whole scope and span of our 
modern life. The Law of Love—the Golden 
Rule—the Mind of Christ—is sufficient if 
acted out and specifically applied, not in 
vague generalizations, but practically and in 
particular instances, to end all strife and in- 
’ augurate a permanent era of peace and 
concord in co-operation for the common 
good of all men the world over. In the hope 
that this little volume may make some defi- 
nite contribution toward this long-prayed- 
for and glorious end, we bespeak for it a 
wide circulation and a most attentive read- 
ing. Levi GILBERT. 


22 


THE TRUMPETER OF JUBILEE 








THE TRUMPETER OF JUBILEE 


In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of 
Cesar Augustus, in an obscure part of his 
realm and of humble parentage, was born 
the most revolutionary character known to 
history or tradition. He is known to many 
millions who never heard of those who sat 
“‘in the seats of the mighty,’’ in the days 
when He toiled at a carpenter’s bench. Ages 
of evolution had moved forward with un- 
deviating precision, eliminating the unfit in 
the struggle for existence until-in the full- 
ness of the times the Eternal Word was in- 
troduced as a new factor in God’s way of 
doing things, making it possible that whoso- 
ever will may be fitted to survive. When 
Christ was born in the city of David a new 
spirit was born in society. Self-preserva- 
tion, theretofore, had been the first law. It 
is yet the first law of nature, but the ‘‘grace 


25 


SHOP TALKS 


and truth’’ which ‘‘came by Jesus Christ’’ 
have made and manifested a new and higher 
law which evermore must hold. This law 
of grace, which supersedes Nature’s first 
law, makes the welfare of our neighbor also 
a primary consideration. ‘‘Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself,’’ said Jesus, and 
mankind in word, though not yet in deeds, 
have uttered an age-long ‘‘Amen.’’ 

The Man of Galilee came to establish 
human happiness. He is making progress 
toward His goal. Some day His great pur- 
pose will be accomplished; His ideal will be 
a reality. There shall be a new earth as 
well as a new heaven, for the former things 
must pass away. We have been for nine- 
teen centuries hastening toward 


“That time by gifted minds foretold, 
When men shall live by reason 
And not alone for gold. 
When with man to man united 
And every wrong thing righted, 
This whole world shall be lighted, 
As Eden was of old.”’ 


26 


THE TRUMPETER OF JUBILEE 


Jesus made formal announcement of His 
mission in the application to Himself of 
Isaiah’s words upon the occasion of His 
preaching in the Nazareth synagogue. 

‘‘And there was delivered unto Him the 
book of the prophet Esaias. And when He 
had opened the book He found the place 
where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord 
is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to 
preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent 
Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach de- 
liverance to the captives, and recovering of 
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that 
are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of 
the Lord. . . . This day is this Scripture 
fulfilled in your ears.’’ 

With such a message to mankind, may 
we not expect that it will be true now even 
as it was recorded then that 

‘“All bare Him witness, and wondered at 
the gracious words which proceeded out of 
His mouth?”’ 

In the method by which Jesus seeks to 
attain His ideal of a race perfected and 
happy, He displays great confidence in the 

27 


SHOP TALKS 


truth and in men. That truth can not fail 
and that men will be true to Him and true 
to the truth, He has never a doubt. He un- 
falteringly committed His unfinished task to 
a handful of followers who had become im- 
bued with His spirit, and the leaven of truth 
and love, of sacrifice and service, is cease- 
lessly at work upon the dispositions and 
characters of men. Upon the part of man- 
kind there has never been a general betrayal 
of the trust which Christ reposes in human 
beings. This is a continuous miracle. Great 
is grace. By it in the hearts of men our 
Lord has reproduced Himself countless times 
in each generation. Men are to-day carry- 
ing forward the work of Mary’s Son, and 
will carry it on until every son of every 
mother shall some day join in a world-wide 
jubilee. 

There are two classes of men who array 
themselves against existing laws and social 
customs. The one class is composed of crim- 
inals, outlaws. The other class is made up 
of patriotic and philanthropic reformers. 
The true reformer is truly a philanthropist, 

28 


THE TRUMPETER OF JUBILEE 


and the spirit of reform is a large part of 
the spirit of patriotism. Both the outlaw 
and the reformer attack the laws and cus- 
toms of society; the one from without, the 
other from within. The object of the out- 
law is destruction only. The object of the 
reformer is destruction, to be followed by 
construction. The reformer tears down, that 
he may build greater and better. They who 
look upon the surface of things only, and 
who have limited horizons, very readily con- 
fuse the reformer with the outlaw. They 
see naught but the attack, and can not dis- 
cern differences of motive and object. Short- 
sighted conservatives dread the radicals’ 
vigorous laying of the ax to the root, and 
aroused fear is most implacable. Isaiah 
looked across the centuries and saw that the 
Servant of Jehovah ‘‘was numbered with 
the transgressors.’’ Jesus died as an out- 
law with outlaws and in the stead of all the 
outlawed Barabbases that blind fury hath 
ever chosen. It was necessary that the 
things which Jesus abrogated in His own 
person should be completely annulled and 


29 


SHOP TALKS 


annihilated before there could be ushered in 
that jubilant age, 


‘That one far off divine event 
Toward which the whole creation moves.”” 


The reformer and the demagogue must 
appeal to the same audience—the dissatis- 
fied. So the diamond and the paste imita- 
tion make their appeal to the same man— 
the buyer of jewels. They who are smugly 
satisfied are deaf to the cries of the social 
reformer or political agitator. For the mis- 
erable only has Jesus a message. To-day, 
as of old, He stands in the market place and 
cries, ‘‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’’ 

Many cure-alls for social ills have been 
offered by various social philosophers. 
From Plato to Robert Owen, all the Great- 
hearts of our race have sought to conduct 
mankind to the Delectable Mountains. In 
the midst of all the voices sounding clamor- 
ously from far and near, the gentle voice of 
Jesus insistently reaches all but those hope- 
lessly deafened by sin. He offers His spe- 


30 


THE TRUMPETER OF JUBILEE 


cific for human woe. Let us hear that voice 
and learn of that remedy, as we shall in this 
series of talks, and, hearing and learning, 
let us accept and apply. 


**T heard the voice of Jesus say, 

“Come unto Me and rest. 

Lay down, thou weary one, lay down 
Thy head upon My breast!’ 

I came to Jesus as I was, 
Weary and worn and sad; 

I found in Him a resting place, 
And He has made me glad.’’ 


31 





KING JESUS 





KING JESUS 


WE shall begin this discussion by a study 
of the term ‘‘king.’’ Let those who speak 
German, as many of you do, think of the 
word. ‘‘Koenig.”’ You who speak English, 
and all of you do, think now of four words, 
cean,’” **¢on,”’ “ken,” and ‘*“cunning:”” 
Again, let the Germans present think of 
““konnen.’’ Now, with these words in our 
minds, we have made a fair start in our 
study of the term ‘‘king.’’ Let us find what 
all of these words have in common. Take 
now the words ‘‘con’’ and ‘‘ken.’’? ‘‘Con’’ 
means ‘‘study,’’ and ‘‘ken’’ means ‘‘know.”’ 
Both are terms denoting intellectual ability 
and acquirement. The word ‘‘cunning’’ is 
also a term by which we denote mental 
strength. These words with ‘‘can,’’ ‘‘king,’’ 
and the German ‘‘koenig’’ come to us from 
the old Saxon ‘“‘kunnan,’’ which means 
“‘know,’’ ‘‘know-how,’’ ‘‘be able.’? In other 
words, the king is the man who can, who 

35 


SHOP TALKS 


knows, who is able. Of course, where a man 
comes to a throne because of birth, and not 
because of worth, he is frequently not the 
‘‘know-how’’ man of ability. It is in the 
original root sense of the word that we wish 
to speak of Jesus as King. 

Rudyard Kipling tells us the story of 
“<The Man Who Would Be King.’’ It is a 
story of terrible hardships and muscle-strain- 
ing endeavor. The hero sacrifices time, 
country, kindred, and everything dear to 
man. His fall comes through his desire to 
enliven the desolation and cheer the dreari- 
ness of his high estate with human compan- 
ionship. Such greatness is filled with ap- 
palling loneliness, and the price of worldly 
power impoverishes its purchaser. The 
high places of this world are reached by 
eagles and reptiles only. The eagle soars 
above the love of others, and the reptile 
crawls beneath their contempt, while both 
are without companionship. Eminence at- 
tained by duplicity or force is a barren moun- 
tain peak set amid the snows and solitudes 
of vast emptiness. 

36 


KING JESUS 


It was neither by coercion nor crooked 
devices that Jesus reached His throne, but 
by sacrifice and service. Czsar, Macbeth, 
Cromwell, Napoleon may 


** Wade through slaughter to a throne, 
And read their history in a nation’s eyes,’’ 


but Jesus Christ permits all men to wade 
through His blood to crowns and croziers 
and become kings and priests unto God. He 
is the maker of kings, therefore hath He do- 
minion over the Empire of Love. He en- 
nobles every common vassal, and all His 
peasants are princes. 

Jesus expressed the underlying principle 
of His own Kingship in the rebuke He gave 
the vaulting and vainglorious ambition of 
His disciples: ‘‘And whosoever of you will 
be the chiefest, shall be the servant of all.’’ 

Who is it that attains to large authority 
among men? The willing servant of men. 
The physician who sacrificed the comfort of 
his bed that starless January midnight and 
came to your house and wrestled with death 
till morning, revealed him worn but flushed 


37 


SHOP TALKS 


with triumph, and your loved one on the 
road to recovery, is a great man in your 
eyes. And well he may be, for he has paid 
for your devotion. 

The man who occupies the chief place in 
this nation of ours, the President of our re- 
public, is an overworked man. By the very 
force of his position he is compelled to be 
the servant of those who have chosen him 
for rulership. Among us Americans we 
have the political ‘‘boss.’’ How does a man 
reach such a position of authority over his 
fellows? Simply by serving them. He puts 
himself in readiness to respond to every 
one’s beck and call. And, further, be it said 
that in most cases the political boss, though 
he may be a bad man in many ways, is a 
lover of his fellow-men. <A _ hard-hearted 
man is not a man of influence. The skinflint 
receives the contempt he merits. 

I knew a man who held almost absolute 
sway over the politics of a certain city. Be- 
cause he controlled a city he held the bal- 
ance of power in the congressional district, 
and he became a powerful factor in State 

38 


KING JESUS 


politics. That man got control of his fel- 
low voters by being always ready to render 
them efficient service. Night or day he was 
always glad to accommodate either friend 
or foe. From the loan or gift of money to 
watching beside a sick person, he never re- 
fused aid. A sixteen-year-old boy driving 
a team got stuck in the mud. Into the mud 
waded the ‘‘boss’’ with his patent leather 
shoes, and, soiling his clothes and blistering 
his hands, he helped the boy out of his 
troublesome place. Others, like the priest 
and Levite, had passed by on the other side. 
Five years later, who so lusty a shouter and 
voter for the ‘‘boss’’ as that boy? Ten years 
later that boy carried a ward for the boss and 
saved his friend from defeat. This political 
boss was a saloon-keeper. However far he 
may have departed from the ways of Christ, 
at least in that one respect he was like the 
Nazarene. Yet policy, and not love, may 
have been his ruling motive. 

Having spoken thus of one who in most 
ways was not a model citizen, let me tell you 
of one who differed widely from him in ev- 

39 


SHOP TALKS 


erything except the disposition to be helpful 
to others. She was a leading member of a 
church in a little town about twenty-four 
miles south of Columbus, Ohio. Her name 
was Josephine Hewitt. Whatever the occa- 
sion, whether it were one of joy or grief, 
this woman’s help was required. In their 
weddings and their funerals she helped. 
When sickness singed and seared with the 
hot breath of fever it was she who minis- 
tered by the bedside. She would sit up all 
night to comfort the broken heart of a 
mother bereft of her firstborn. Like Tab- 
itha of whom St. Luke tells us, she sewed 
garments for the poor. In the hearts of all, 
rich and poor alike, she was enthroned. 
When she departed suddenly for the Land 
of the Everliving, two hundred and fifty car- 
riages formed the funeral procession to 
God’s acre, where, amid universal lamenta- 
tions, multitudes from far and near bade 
farewell to one who for them incarnated 
Christ. So, living or dead, among many she 
holds a queenly place because she rendered 
a royal service. 
40 


KING JESUS 


Most assuredly the kingdom over which 
Jesus rules is not of this world, and yet His 
is an absolute despotism. The sway of His 
sovereignty is without qualification or limit. 
This King asks but to be accorded the privi- 
lege of blessing, of conferring favors, of 
serving His subjects. In return it is re- 
quired that each subject model his life after 
the pattern set by the Sovereign, and that 
he hold himself bound absolutely to obey the 
King. Disobedience annuls the right to citi- 
zenship in this Commonwealth of Israel. 

Further, be it observed that the Kingship 
of Jesus is an elective one. He rules only 
over those who have chosen Him as their 
King. He does not reign over any involun- 
tary subjects. Those who elect Him King of 
their lives do so with a clear understanding 
of what is involved. They can not elect Him 
without careful consideration, for it is im- 
possible to make Him King over any unsur- 
rendered portion of one’s being. They who 
wish may go away and cease to follow Him 
at any time. They who remain have volun- 
tarily made Him Lord and Master. 


41 


SHOP TALKS 


In every heart there is a cross and a 
throne—self is on one, and Jesus on the 
other. In your HEART, IS JESUS ON THE CROSS 
OR ON THE THRONE? 


JESUS THE DEMOCRAT 





JESUS THE DEMOCRAT 


ApraHam Lincoxn in his Gettysburg ad- 
dress referred to our democratic national 
government as being ‘‘of the people, by the 
people, and for the people.’’ So may we 
say of a democratic man. Jesus of Nazareth 
was sprung of the people, produced by the 
people, and always stood for the people. He 
is the world’s truest democrat. It is of 
record that ‘‘the common people heard Him 
gladly.’’ His enemies justly charged Him 
with keeping company with publicans and 
sinners. It is said of Jesus that when He 
saw the multitudes ‘‘He was moved with 
compassion,’’ that is, He had a fellow-feel- 
ing with the crowd. He understood men, and 
His spirit was in tune with theirs. He and 
the multitudes with whom He had dealings 
were in symphony. 

Jesus was no anchorite. A monk is as 
far from the spirit of the Master he pro- 
fesses to follow as is a worldly-minded man. 

45 


SHOP TALKS 


In charging His enemies with unjust es- 
timates of Himself, He admits that His man- 
ner of life is that of a man of the world. 
‘John came neither eating nor drinking, and 
ye say he hath a devil. The Son of man 
comes eating and drinking, and ye say, 
Behold a wine-bibber and a _ gluttonous 
man.’’ 

Your true democrat leads a life of dig- 
nified simplicity. He recognizes his own 
worth, and he recognizes also the worth of 
every other man. He does not bawl from 
the house tops, ‘‘I am the equal of a king.’’ 
It has never occurred to him to boast of 
equality with any man, because it has never 
occurred to him that any human being could 
be his superior. By the same token also he 
does not recognize human inferiority. This 
is not to say that he fails to discern moral 
and intellectual and physical differences 
among men. But there are certain rights 
which all men share in common, and in re- 
lation to these rights a man is just a man. 
His goods and gear, his titles and trumpery 
no more make him superhuman than the lack 

46 


JESUS THE DEMOCRAT 


of social frills make him subhuman. The 
democrat recognizes that the beginning and 
ending of life fmd men on a common level. 
Of old the Chieftain of Uz observed, ‘‘ Naked 
came I into the world, and naked shall I 
leave it.’? The democrat realizes that life 
is as its beginning and ending. To him class 
distinctions make no appeal. The phrase 
“‘class consciousness’’ to him is meaningless. 
He can not be a snob or a toady; he can 
not be a patron or a tyrant. He is simply 
a man among men. He does not carry a 
chip on one shoulder, nor water on both 
shoulders. He has principles which he will 
not yield, but he also has courtesy which will 
not fail. He stands on his two feet, but does 
not spread them out so far as to leave no 
room for another to stand. This individu- 
alist preserves his own integrity without vi- 
olating the integrity of any brother man. 
The race has produced but one such dem- 
ocrat. Yet such a description, which for any 
other is exaggerated eulogy, is too cheap and 
coarse to be applied to Jesus. Failing so 
miserably at the task of describing His de- 
47 


SHOP TALKS 


mocracy in our own language, let us turn 
again to the evangelists who were His first 
biographers. 

St. John tells us of a weary man who sat 
on a well curb and talked with an ignorant 
and sinful woman. In this conversation 
Jesus uses not blandishment, nor bluster, nor 
tone of command. So naturally does He ap- 
proach, so little assumption of superiority 
does He show, that the woman begins her 
part of the conversation with banter, only 
to end it, however, with bowed spirit and 
surrendered heart. And this was a woman, 
a vicious woman, a Samaritan woman, who 
with astonishment thought she beheld a man, 
a Jew, a rabbi Jew, standing on her plane 
of existence, and later is struck with a thun- 
derous astonishment in finding herself raised 
to His level of life. 

St. John tells another illuminative story. 
Jesus attended the wedding in Cana of Gal- 
ilee. He entered simply and heartily into 
the joys of the common folk by whom He 
was surrounded. Further, He contributed 
to that joy by contributing to the supply 

48 


JESUS THE DEMOCRAT 


of wine. While the greater portion of the 
wedding guests saw only a fellow-man, 
‘<The conscious waters saw their God and 
blushed.’’ 

St. Luke records the story of Zaccheus 
and his contact with Jesus. This sinful 
man found in Jesus a friend. The centu- 
rion found Him a helper. The young ruler 
found in Him a lover. Pilate not only found 
no fault in Him, but found Him capable of 
commanding the respect of an _ insolent 
Roman drunk with power. 

So we might multiply examples from 
‘‘the short and simple annals’’ of the life 
of Jesus the democrat, to show that He was 
ever the friend of His fellows. Yet we need 
not content ourselves with stories of the long 
ago, however virile and palpitant with life 
they may be. Jesus bids us keep company 
with Him, and that is our privilege. There 
never was any man or set of men any more 
unworthy of being the companions of the 
Nazarene carpenter than you and I, but He 
bids us keep step with Him as ‘‘He goes up 
and down the world doing good.’’ 

4 49 


SHOP TALKS 


Let us come to Jesus and, in coming, find 
ourselves going to every needy man in this 
wide world. Whoso comes to Jesus finds 
thereby the fulfillment of the aspiration to 


“* Live in a house by the side of the road, 
And be a friend to man.’’ 


50 


JESUS THE SOCIALIST 


JESUS THE SOCIALIST 


Jesus embodied the spirit of His times. 
Yet, to that Zeitgeist he not only gave body, 
but direction, illumination, and purpose, and 
added thereto much that distinguishes His 
age and makes it unique. 

He gave voice to the half-articulate so- 
cial yearnings of all the past generations of 
the Jewish race. Deep into the subsoil of 
Hebrew history extend those roots whence 
sprang that fair flowering and fruitage 
which we call Jesus the Socialist. We must 
know Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel in 
order to understand the attitude which the 
Prophet of Nazareth assumed toward society. 

Many of the ideals of modern socialism 
were either partially or wholly realized by 
ancient Judaism. The disposal in perpetu- 
ity of natural resources was impossible. 
The year of jubilee occurring every half cen- 

53 


SHOP TALKS 


tury caused a reversion of all property rights 
to original sources. The right to property 
did not inhere in the individual, but in the 
tribe. Theirs was a collective ownership. 
A study of ancient Israel’s system of taxa- 
tion will reveal their conception of property 
and the relation of the individual thereto. 
Taxes were levied upon production, not 
upon consumption; upon income, not upon 
possessions. They did not make a man pay, 
by an excise or tariff, for what he ate, drank, 
or wore; but before he could eat, drink, or 
wear he must make a definitely specified con- 
tribution to the common store. The first- 
fruits were devoted to the commonwealth. 
The private ownership of their extensive 
natural resources or their very limited pub- 
lic utilities was not recognized. About one- 
third of their time was spent in rest and 
recreation. Though slavery was sanctioned, 
perpetual involuntary servitude was not al- 
lowed, and the bondman, like the freeman, 
worked but two-thirds of his time. Even the 
means and media of production, as well as 
the producers, were given the benefit of the 
54 


JESUS THE SOCIALIST 


Sabbath day, the Sabbath year, the year of 
jubilee, and the periods of the great feasts. 
A man’s possessions could not be utilized to 
increase his possessions except in the way 
of barter. Interest could not be exacted 
from a borrower, and even in cases of sale 
of property it was not a permanent transfer. 
In the exchange of commodities, in most 
cases, a man engaged in commercial pursuits 
received no more from his gains for the time 
and effort expended than if that time and 
effort had been applied to agriculture. 

That the products of nature were for the 
common weal received additional recognition 
in the provision that compelled a man to re- 
frain from gleaning where he reaped and to 
leave parts of the field unreaped. The poor, 
as in the familiar case of Ruth, were ex- 
pected to gather the portions thus left. A 
head of a family was responsible not only 
for the welfare of his direct issue, but for 
all collateral branches. Wherefore Israel 
had no poverty such as is familiar to us. 
Pauperism and all its attendant evils, moral 
and physical, was practically unknown. 


50 


SHOP TALKS 


Be it noted, however, that it was an agri- 
cultural and pastoral life to which these laws 
were held applicable. Our present indus- 
trial system is altogether different. Whether 
these principles could apply now and here, 
will be debatable for some time to come. 

Israel was always more of a social or- 
ganization than it was a nation. The suc- 
cessive captivities and conquests by more 
powerful peoples which they suffered, and 
their firm adherence to their peculiar cus- 
toms and racial principles, made them ever 
a kind of empire within an empire. Their 
own national government in the days of 
their kings seems to have been superim- 
posed upon the existing social strata of 
family and tribal relations, rather than to 
grow out of and be involved by such rela- 
tions. When that long line of austere moral 
heroes and patriots whom we know as Is- 
rael’s prophets saw the steady waning of na- 
tional strength, they began to depict the pos- 
sible glories of a perfected society. And 
this was to be Israel’s mission—the leaven 
of social righteousness among all mankind. 

56 


JESUS THE SOCIALIST 


To change human nature and thereby hu- 
man customs, and to establish right rela- 
tions between man and God and between 
man and man, was to be the task of the 
chosen race. That the priests and scribes 
failed to properly interpret the prophetic 
view is not an occasion for astonishment. 
Their training would be likely to impose such 
limitations. 

Jesus caught the prophetic vision. He 
declared that He came not to destroy the 
law and the prophets, but to fulfill. And in 
what large measure does He fulfill! ‘‘Ye 
have heard that it was said by them of old 
time’? . . . ‘*But I say unto you’’— Be- 
tween the high teaching of Jesus and that 
of other seers lie the clouds and fogs of 
speculation and error in which confused men 
grope. 

He enjoins love for enemies, non-resist- 
ance of evil, generosity to the extortioner, 
efforts at reconciliation to proceed from the 
injured. He calls the poor in spirit, the 
meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, blessed. 
His golden rule of conduct, ‘‘ All things what- 


o7 


SHOP TALKS 


soever ye would that men should do to you, 
do ye even so to them,’’ and His doctrine 
of the Fatherhood of God form the only 
possible bond of a universal brotherhood, 
the only possible antidote for all the ills 
arising from the quarrels of men and na- 
tions. 

By many He is believed to be an imprac- 
tical idealist. It is said that the precepts of 
Jesus can not be applied to modern condi- 
tions. But let it be observed that Jesus 
Himself gave evil its deathblow by refusing 
to resist it. Evil platted for Him a crown 
of thorns and pressed it down upon His 
brow; it spat in His face and mocked Him; 
it nailed Him to a cross. Ever since to 
Jesus it did its worst, evil has been hanging 
its head in shame. It put Jesus on the cross, 
Jesus put it in an everlasting pillory. On 
that pillory and of that shame evil must die. 
Hate is not stronger than love. Extortion 
can not thrive in the atmosphere of gener- 
osity. ‘‘The pomp of power”’ seems childish 
and small when brought into contact with 
meekness, which is the result not of self-con- 


58 


JESUS THE SOCIALIST 


tempt but of self-control. Upon a basis of 
common virtues, and not upon a basis of 
common interests, does the Socialist of the 
Nazareth carpenter shop expect to secure 
the unity of society. By a process of sur- 
rendering rights, not of demanding them, 
will He bring all men together. 

Jesus does not array one class of men 
against another class. He makes no appeal 
to class consciousness. Though His most 
forceful invective was hurled at the rich and 
ruling classes, it was not because they were 
rich and rulers, but because they were wicked 
and were satisfied with their riches and their 
power. It was the state of mind produced 
by such possessions that aroused His oppo- 
sition. He would have them feel that in 
God’s judgment they were neither better nor 
worse than other men. 

Jesus stands and invites all men, however 
they may have classified themselves, to for- 
sake their present attachments, to leave all, 
and come to a common level in coming to 
Him. He would unite all men, in the bonds 
of righteousness, for the common good. Let 


59 


SHOP TALKS 


us center our being in Jesus Christ. So shall 
we be delivered from evil, social and indi- 
vidual, by the power that appertains to the 
kingdom and glory of Our Father who is in 
Heaven. 


60 


: 
: 








JESUS AND MODERN SOCIALISM 


THE aim and purpose of modern social- 
ism are identical with a part of the aim and 
purpose of Jesus. Yet the Galilean Prophet 
intends to do far more for society than so- 
ciety, following a socialist program, can do 
for itself. There is also a difference in the 
methods by which each works for the desired 
end. Socialism would change the circum- 
stances and conditions of the individual’s 
life, expecting the changed environment to 
react upon his disposition and character. 
Jesus would change the individual’s disposi- 
tion and character, expecting that these in 
turn will work a change in environment. So- 
cialism centers its activities and hopes in 
society—the aggregate of all individuals. 
Jesus centers all human activities and hopes 
in Himself. Socialism would establish a gov- 
ernment which concerns itself with the mi- 


63 


SHOP TALKS 


nutest details of a man’s life; a government 
paternal in its concern for individual wel- 
fare. So also would Jesus. But Jesus would 
establish a kingdom with Himself as the 
wise and good monarch. The subjects of 
the kingdom of God, which Jesus would set 
up among men, derive their rights and pow- 
ers from the King. All things, all beings, 
belong to the King. The subjects are but 
stewards, trustees, agents. The rules and 
regulations under which socialism would op- 
erate depend upon the sanction of a major- - 
ity of the citizens. With socialism ‘‘govern- 
ment derives its just powers from the con- 
sent of the governed.’’ With Jesus this is 
true to the extent that His Kingship is an 
elective one. 

Socialism expects to reach its goal by ar- 
raying proletariat against patrician, laborer 
against capitalist, and thus bringing to pass 
that condition which was formerly the sub- 
ject of school-day debates; an irresistible 
force operating against an immovable mass. 
By developing class consciousness it expects 
to see the time when the oppressed, realizing 

64 


JESUS AND MODERN SOCIALISM 


their power, shall make demands for justice 
from oppressors, which demands must be 
granted. Jesus would not merely thwart 
oppression, but supplant it with generosity. 
In society Jesus would produce not a merger 
of interests, but a symphony of affection. 
He works for social reformation through in- 
dividual regeneration. 

Let us grant that there is much truth in 
the contention that environment affects (not 
to say effects) human character and conduct. 
Yet there is more truth in the converse prop- 
osition that environment results from human 
character and conduct. Why does the pig 
wallow? Because there is a wallowing place? 
No; it is a pig’s nature to wallow. So long 
as he remains a pig he will make himself a 
mudhole, even though to do so he has to 
tear up with his nose a flower bed or a mac- 
adamized highway. Why does a bird fly? 
Because the upper air, the bright sunshine, 
the green foliage are the birds’ element. 
The bird would not wallow, though all North 
America were a mudhole. You and I, doubt- 
less, believe that the best and most beauti- 


5 65 


SHOP TALKS 


ful of material conditions that it is possible 
to have is every man’s right, but we do 
not believe that every possible possessor 
of such a right would appreciate it, nor 
if his right were granted would he appre- 
ciate the good and beautiful material things 
that would then be his. Fine feathers may 
make a pretty bird, but fine clothes, a 
fine house, a fine motor car do not make a 
fine man. That is not to say that some pos- 
sessors of such things are not good men and 
gentlemen. But neither having them nor 
failing to have them has any absolute con- 
trol over what kind of a man one shall be. 

A legislative body enacts a law. Certain 
evilly disposed men at whom the law is 
aimed will perhaps not be made better 
thereby. But, if their power for evil is cur- 
tailed and their evil example restrained, a 
better environment may be produced in 
which a better acting generation can live and 
move and have its being. It may be ques- 
tioned whether the individual is made 
stronger by being forcibly restrained from 
doing wrong, but it is not a matter of ques- 

66 


JESUS AND MODERN SOCIALISM 


tion that the body social is benefited thereby. 
Though the individual may not be made bet- 
ter or happier by legislative enactment, so- 
ciety can be. A statute which by its opera- 
tion will decrease the amount of poverty, will 
decrease the amount of sin and crime and 
physical disease. Poverty causes some of 
the prostitution, theft, and other crimes and 
misdemeanors which afflict our civilization. 
In turn, prostitution causes many diseases 
which weaken the race. Poverty increases 
drunkenness by causing the clamorous de- 
mands of poorly nourished nerves, and, in 
turn, drunkenness increases poverty. Thrift 
can not be legislated into a man, but a stat- 
ute can make it possible for a pauper’s chil- 
dren to be properly nourished physically 
and trained mentally so that the second gen- 
eration may be thriftier than the first, and 
thus a gradual and growing improvement 
may be effected. When all of a man’s 
strength and time are devoted to the mere 
maintenance of physical life, art and re- 
ligion and all things which appeal to his 
higher nature must be ignored. Jesus Christ 
67 


SHOP TALKS 


will have a better chance to do His work 
among men when there is less poverty. 
With their material possessions men are 
often satisfied. The rich fool who intended 
to take his ease because he had much goods 
laid by for many years is not an uncommon 
character. It would be just as hard for 
Jesus to reach Harry K. Thaw as it would 
for Him to reach the unknown and name- 
less prostitute victim of the sweatshop. 
Neither the satisfied nor the hopeless can 
hear the gentle wooings of religion. Jesus 
Christ will have a better chance to do His 
work among men when there is less riches. 
Wise Agur prayed, ‘‘Give me neither 
poverty nor riches.’’ To this the socialist 
and the Christian would both say ‘‘ Amen.’’ 
But it is one thing to have a goal, and an- 
other thing to reach it. Though the Chris- 
tian and the socialist set before them the 
same goal so far as this earth is concerned, 
they are striving in different ways to reach 
it. The socialist would attain his desires by 
having one class make certain demands of 
and wrest certain concessions from another 


68 


JESUS AND MODERN SOCIALISM 


class. The Christian, following Jesus, would 
realize society’s highest good, not by hav- 
ing one class of men demand rights, but by 
having all men surrender all rights. ‘‘To 
leave all and follow Him”’’ is the familiar 
formula of the Jesus’ method of solving so- 
ciety’s problems and adjusting the wrong 
relations of men. 

Two words bulk large in any such dis- 
cussion as this: competition and co-opera- 
tion. Ever since men came out of the for- 
ests and began to dwell in the shepherd’s 
tents, co-operation has been a term of grow- 
ing importance. Far be it from me to say 
that competition has not done much to de- 
velop the individual. Competition has been 
the whetstone of courage, toil, and shrewd 
foresight. The struggle for existence has 
been a merciless one, but sometimes the 
hugely strong have attained to a position 
where they could show mercy and be a tower 
of refuge for many of the weak. Competi- 
tion seems to be the order of nature, and 
the evolution of the race seems to have pro- 
ceeded upon that basis. Co-operation, how- 

69 


SHOP TALKS 


ever, received a renewed impetus, a larger 
meaning, and a new direction with the com- 
ing of Jesus. There are some thoughts about 
God which Jesus gave us, and which even yet 
we but dimly apprehend. He told men that 
God is a loving Father, upon whom rests 
responsibility for the welfare of His chil- 
dren; that God is a tireless toiler, and that 
He invites all men to join His great labor 
union and become co-workers with Him. In 
the scheme of co-operation set forth by the 
Nazarene Carpenter, God is the Master Me- 
chanic, the Head Workman, and all men fel- 
low laborers. Instead of having as the mo- 
tive for effort the common good, about 
which men might disagree, Jesus gives the 
incentive of working for the glory of God. 
All sons of God are to be united in a com- 
mon desire to promote their Father’s glory. 
The bond of unity is to be the love of God. 
On such a basis the old objection to the prin- 
ciple of co-operation, which declares that 
competition is the only thing furnishing an 
adequate incentive to endeavor, is obviated, 
for when the spur of necessity, which compe- 
70 


JESUS AND MODERN SOCIALISM 


tition applies to men, has been removed, we 
still have under the Christian thought of all 
working for the glory of One the tonic of 
emulation, by which men will provoke one 
another to good works. Through Jesus of 
Nazareth, a child’s desire to please his Fa- 
ther is to supplant the brute’s desire for a 
full stomach. By seeking first the kingdom 
of God and the righteousness of God, all ma- 
terial requirements such a seeker may have 
will be added. 

This address has been so full of defini- 
tions and, because of the limits of time, so 
condensed, that I shall now depart from my 
usual custom and give a summary of all 
that has been said. 

1. We declare that the aims of the dis- 
ciple of Karl Marx and those of the dis- 
ciple of Jesus Christ are in many respects 
identical. The Christian, however, aims to 
accomplish more things than does the social- 
ist, and if the socialist were to wake up in 
the morning and find all his work done, the 
Christian would wake up to multitudinous 
days of toil. For Jesus must not merely 

fe! 


SHOP TALKS 


reform human laws and customs, but trans- 
form human lives. 

2. We declare that, though there is sim- 
ilarity of aim, there is difference in method 
of work between the Christian and the so- 
cialist. The government which the Chris- 
tian would set up among men and that of 
the socialist’s ideal are alike in having un- 
limited extent. In either case there would 
be government control of everything. But 
in form the two governments are different, 
for, whereas the socialist wants a pure de- 
mocracy, the Christian desires an absolute 
monarchy. The center of the socialist sys- 
tem is society; the center of the Christian 
system is Jesus, the Son of God. Under the 
socialist system all work together for the 
common good; under the Christian system 
all work together for the Divine Glory, and 
the common good is realized as an indirect 
result. : 

I think, my friends, whether we be Chris- 
tian or socialist, or Christian socialist, or 
something else, that we can all stand to- 
gether on a common platform of prayer, say- 

72 


JESUS AND MODERN SOCIALISM 


ing, God hasten the time when all that sep- 
arates man from man shall be removed, and 
each man shall treat every other man as a 
brother beloved. 


73 








JESUS THE CITIZEN 


To say that Jesus was a citizen of two 
worlds is to state an obvious truism. To 
say that He was a citizen of two nations at 
one and the same time may not be such a 
commonplace statement. To Rome Jesus 
quietly and uncomplainingly submitted; but 
to Israel He gave a patriot’s devotion. De- 
siring to see Him as a citizen, we must look 
upon Him in His relation to Rome as well 
as to Israel, and endeavor to determine how 
far His earthly citizenship was qualified by 
His allegiance to heavenly and eternal poli- 
cies. Perhaps our study may lead us to con- 
clusions as to what would be His conduct in 
regard to our government were He now in 
the flesh and dwelling among us. 

We have referred to the Man of Galilee 
as Jesus, the Democrat; Jesus, the Socialist; 
King Jesus; and we have called Him a Re- 
former. In a directly political sense, how- 


77 


SHOP TALKS 


ever, He was none of these. His dealings 
were and are with society rather than with 
the nation; with the governed rather than 
with the government. Jesus among revolu- 
tionists is chief; yet no teachings are better 
for the purpose of creating a spirit of non- 
resistance to oppression than are His. When 
we come to study Jesus in regard to politics 
we are puzzled by irreconcilable contradic- 
tions. We say he rendered to Israel a pa- 
triot’s devotion, and that to Cesar He was 
disposed to render the things which are 
Cesar’s, yet the new wine of His principles 
burst the old wine skins of Israelitish polity, 
and before His onward march Cesarism fled 
into a night as black as the deeds of Nero 
or Caligula. He paid taxes, by which He 
recognized the authority of human govern- 
ments; but He did not use the occasion of 
His doing so as an opportunity for giving 
forth any teaching on the subject. He both 
opposed and favored war. He opposed wars 
which are for a nation’s selfish aggrandize- 
ment. He favored wars when righteousness , 
is compelled to resort to bloodshed against 
78 


JESUS THE CITIZEN 


evil. But this judgment concerning the atti- 
tude of Jesus in regard to war is not derived 
from any specific utterances, but from a con- 
sideration of the spirit which dominates all 
of His teachings. This paradoxical Prophet 
not only refused to adopt the course later fol- 
lowed by Mahomet and carve out for Himself 
with the sword an empire of earthly power, 
but He even refused to take up the sword in 
self-defense against the ‘‘ Prince of this world 
and the powers of darkness.’’ ‘‘I came not 
to bring peace, but a sword,’’ He declared, 
and yet to Peter He rebukingly says, ‘‘Put 
up thy sword.’’ 

Let us distinguish between the terms 
‘state’? and ‘‘government.’’ <A _ state is 
composed of the whole body of people living 
under one form of government. A govern- 
ment is any system of control exercised over 
a state. A man interested in government 
may be a political economist. A man inter- 
ested in any one particular government may 
be a politician. A man interested in a 
. state may be a patriot. Jesus was a pa- 
triot without being either a political econo- 

79 


SHOP TALKS 


mist or a politician. A lover of a nation, 
that is, a patriot, may be very greatly op- 
posed to that nation’s government. It is 
conceivable, for instance, that some demo- 
crats, some socialists, and some prohibition- 
ists, while opposed to our country’s present 
government, may yet be as patriotic, as sin- 
cere lovers of their country as some repub- 
licans who are not opposed to the present 
government. So Jesus might have violently 
opposed both the Roman rule and that of 
the Jewish priesthood, and the very violence 
of His opposition to the government would 
simply have attested the depths of His pa- 
triotism. He did not, however, manifest such 
opposition. Indeed, so persistently silent 
was Jesus on all governmental questions that 
it is from His silence we must judge of His 
opinions. Were He in America to-day, and 
walking up and down our hills and plains do- 
ing good, He would doubtless in general 
maintain a strict silence in regard to our cor- 
rupt municipal governments, our political 
bosses, our blind adherence to party, and all 
other undesirable political practices and cus- 
80 


JESUS THE CITIZEN 


toms. It does not follow, however, that His 
disciples should maintain silence in regard to 
these things. In fact, part of the mission of 
Jesus would be a failure if they did. He came 
to inspire others to do good. His spirit is the 
motive power of all good deeds. The spirit 
which violently cleansed the temple of graft- 
ers, operating in His followers, will cause 
them to cleanse the courthouse, the city hall, 
and the capitol. 

In discussing this subject it is well for 
us to again seek the center of Christ’s radi- 
ating activities. His work of reform is from 
within outward. A corrupt government is 
the product of a corrupt state. A state is 
an aggregation of individuals. Jesus will 
eradicate the evils of government by mak- 
ing righteousness desirable in the eyes of a 
majority of the men composing the state. 
He will make a new earth by making new 
men. 

The followers of the Nazarene, here in 
America, will continue to pay taxes, both di- 
rect and indirect, levied by a government 
which some of them may not approve, for 

6 81 


SHOP TALKS 


so did their Master. Should war arise, they 
will remember that it is not merely the gov- 
ernment which is threatened, but the state. 
Many of those composing the state are the 
constituents of Christ’s kingdom also. 
There are righteous wars, such as the war 
this nation waged against the rebellious 
South. The abolition of slavery was well 
pleasing in the eyes of God. A good Chris- 
tian, therefore, being possessed of the spirit 
of Jesus, will contribute of his substance to 
the support of earthly government, and will 
take up arms in defense of such government. 

Following Jesus, a man does not become 
a lawbreaker. The Ten Commandments are 
still in force, and being so, those who recog- 
nize their force are thereby better citizens 
of any state, better subjects of any govern- 
ment. The constabulary of no country ever 
has trouble with true Christians. As much 
as lieth in them, they live peaceably with 
all men. Like their Master, they have a 
certain poise and steadfastness amid things 
irritating and irksome, which is due to citi- 
zenship in two worlds. Many vexatious cir- 

82 


JESUS THE CITIZEN 


cumstances become small and unworthy of 
notice to the man who has been enlarged to 
match eternity. Such a man can possess his 
soul in patience amid things which are but 
for a day. It is Christian citizens, men 
who have in them the energies of eternity, 
the dynamics of God, who have made Europe 
and America. It is Buddhistic, Confucian- 
istic, Mohammedan citizens, men whose lives 
are circumscribed by flesh, who have made 
Asia. As between Citizen Jesus and Citizen 
Confucius, judge ye. Do you not think it 
well to live the Jesus way under earthly 
governments, and when earthly governments 
shall have passed away, go to larger living 
in the Larger Land? 


83 





JESUS THE CONSERVATIVE 
RADICAL 





JESUS THE CONSERVATIVE 
RADICAL 


To-pay we turn again to the Hebrew 
prophets, that long line of heroic heretics. 
They were men who dared to defy the con- 
ventional and the traditional. They gave 
heed to precedent only when precedent 
squared with what their God-guided con- 
sciences declared to be right. To the priests 
of their own day the prophets were danger- 
ously heterodox. To the practical mind of 
their day these prophets did not appear to 
‘be ‘‘safe and sane.’? What limitations the 
‘‘practical mind’’ has! How it clings to its 
rules of thumb! Does not such a mind have 
a sure recipe for doing things? To the let- 
ter of the recipe it holds unyieldingly. The 
way it does things is ‘‘best by test.’ The 
spirit kills such a mind by overworking it. 
The letter keeps it alive by putting no tax 
on its weakness. The practical mind always 


87 


SHOP TALKS 


belongs to the formalist. Rites and ceremo- 
nies are its religious expression. It is easier 
to follow a form than to follow conscience. 

Religion is conservative. Its priests op- 
pose progress. Every great advance that 
the world has made has been marked by con- 
troversies between the prophets and the 
priests. The officers of the Church have 
bound prophets to stakes or nailed them to 
crosses, and thought they did God service 
by destroying heretics. A century passes. 
A new generation of prophets and priests 
has come upon the stage of action. The new 
generation of priests are walking in the light 
given them by the prophets of a hundred 
years before. These priests with one hand 
are building monuments to the prophets of 
yesterday, and with the other are hurling 
stones at to-day’s prophets. Their fathers 
persecuted the seers of their own day, and 
now they but prove themselves, as Jesus de- 
clared, to be children of their fathers by do- 
ing the same kind of deeds and walking, as 
did their fathers, in the narrow circle of light 
given forth by a setting sun. To this let the 

88 


JESUS, CONSERVATIVE RADICAL 


Maid of Orleans, let Michael Servetus, let 
Bishop Hooper, and many another, whose 
names are in the books of history, attest. 
Do not the monuments of such heretics stand 
broad and high, and is not a departure from 
their teachings now deemed heresy? 

Jesus was of the prophets, yet above 
them. Though we call Him a prophet, we 
also call Him a conservative. He conserved 
the spirit of all the prophets, that expand- 
ing spirit of liberty. He was the destroyer 
of traditionalism and the upbuilder of 
thought. He put Himself alongside of Eli- 
jah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Amos, 
and all of those illustrious seers whose words 
make Israel a potency even in this twentieth 
century. He came, said He, not to destroy, 
but to fulfill the prophecies. The spirit of 
the prophets is the spirit of growth, and 
Jesus gave rapidity to such growth. Proph- 
ecy might be called a growing tree on which, 
in the atmosphere of ritualism, certain suck- 
ers of priestly tradition began to grow. 
Jesus pruned the tree, cut away the things 
which were sapping its strength, and even 

89 


SHOP TALKS 


transplanted the tree. The pruned and 
transplanted tree, growing so near the 
‘‘river of the waters of life,’? may well be 
called by the name of Him who, in preserv- 
ing it, made such far-reaching changes in its 
condition and environment. 

There are two things which remain with- 
out change; yea, three things which pre- 
serve their identity: a stagnant pool, a river, 
and a stone. The pool of formalism is in- 
fectious. Its malarial germs produce spir- 
itual inertia. Drain it. The stone of yes- 
terday’s crystallized thought is without life. 
It is a stone of stumbling and a rock of of- 
fense while it remains in its present posi- 
tion. Remove it to an honorable corner in 
yonder foundation. The river of living 
prophecy, of progressive thought, moves 
swiftly to the irrigating of the desert, carry- 
ing the freighted argosies of a world’s prod- 
ucts. Flood the river and swell its tide. 
The conservatism of Jesus was not that of 
the stone or stagnant pool, but of the on- 
flowing waters. He preserves with stead- 
fastness the direction of His thought, and 

90 


JESUS, CONSERVATIVE RADICAL 


that direction is ever toward an ocean of in- 
finite truth. 

The radical is sometimes the most con- 
servative man dealing with a question at is- 
sue. It depends upon the motive which 
sends a man to the root of things, whether 
he lays the ax thereto for the sake of de- 
stroying or for the sake of removing dis- 
ease and defect. He who says, ‘‘Let well 
enough alone’’ is often a dangerous man, 
far more dangerous than the rough and 
ready idol smasher. Jesus was a social con- 
servator in the same sense that a tumor- 
removing surgeon is a vital conservator. To 
him who beholds the swift-cutting knife the 
process looks like utter annihilation. Jesus 
may as truthfully be called ‘‘the Destroyer’’ 
as ‘‘the Savior.’?’ He destroys the evil in 
order to save the good. 

Says the priest: ‘‘Jehovah requires a 
sacrifice of a lamb upon His altar. Do this, 
and thy sin is taken away.’’ Says the 
prophet: ‘‘What doth the Lord require of 
thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and 
to walk humbly with thy God?’’ This is not 

91 


SHOP TALKS 


to say that the priest does not properly hear 
the Word of the Lord, but he fails to give it 
a broad and spiritual interpretation. The 
great High Priest of Christianity stands with 
the prophets. No industrial system which 
fosters injustice, cruelty, and pride can have 
the approval of Jesus. No sums of money, 
however large, contributed as a_ sacrifice 
upon God’s altars, can expiate the sin of in- 
justice. Neither a hundred dollars nor a 
hundred thousand dollars given to carry 
‘‘Glad Tidings’’ across the sea can atone for 
tidings of woe which shrewd and ruthless 
business practice have brought to business 
competitors. Perhaps under our present in- 
dustrial conditions ‘‘it must needs be that 
offenses come, but woe unto that man by 
whom the offense cometh.’’ 

Says the priest: ‘‘Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou 
serve.’’ Says the Galilean Prophet: ‘‘In- 
asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these, My brethren, ye have done 
it unto Me.’’ Jesus identifies Himself with 
the blind, the halt, the weak; with little chil- 

92 


JESUS, CONSERVATIVE RADICAL 


dren (what a tender Shepherd the lambs do 
have!) with women, even outcast women; 
with the poor, and with sinners. He serves 
God best who best serves his fellow-men. 
Yea, the tender pity of our Lord goes out 
to all helpless creatures. 


“* He prayeth well who loveth well, 
Both man and bird and beast, 
He prayeth best who loveth best, 
All things both great and small, 
For the dear God who loveth us, 
He made and loveth all.’’ 


Men, I bid you come to the standard set 
up by Jesus. Enlist under the banner of 
the Great Prophet, and let us go with Him 
to make a loving and a laughing world. 


93 





THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 





THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


THE nineteenth century, with its science 
and inventions, reduced this earth to its low- 
est terms. Our forebears lived on a vast 
planet; we dwell in a pent-up Utica. Steam 
reduced the world to a small neighborhood, 
and electricity converted the neighborhood 
into a whispering gallery. Walls have ears, 
and if your walls have not an ear, the tele- 
phone solicitor will weary you with his im- 
portunities. The past and the present with 
one metallic voice would speak to you; does 
not the far-flung advertisement assure us 
that ‘‘Mr. Edison would like to szz a grapho- 
phone in every home?’’ Well, if the manu- 
facturers will keep up their advertising, Mr. 
Edison will do his part by inventing an in- 
strument by which he can see into all the 
homes of this homogeneous planet. Then 
woe to you, if the salesman looks into your 
home from afar, and does not see there the 


article he sells. 
7 97 


SHOP TALKS 


Mutual dependence has increased, and the 
force of St. Paul’s declaration, that ‘‘ None 
of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to 
himself’’ is stronger to-day than ever before. 
There is but little ground left on which ‘‘per- 
sonal liberty’’ can stand. Some day there 
may be social, political, and industrial free- 
dom—we do not have such freedom now— 
but Whitney and Fulton, Howe and Morse, 
Watts and Stevenson have made it evermore 
impossible to enjoy personal freedom. The 
marching multitudes of our race touch el- 
bows all along the line. 

Professor Graham Taylor, of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, in a lecture on the Mer- 
rick foundation at Ohio Wesleyan Univer- 
sity, which lecture is published in a volume 
called ‘‘The Social Application of Religion,’’ 
referred to the development of modern in- 
dustry as follows: ‘‘The nineteenth century 
was ushered into history by the whir of 
the power-loom, which had then just fairly 
got to work. When the hand-loom ceased to 
beat the measured tread of all the centuries 
gone by, and the power-loom began to set 

98 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


the pace of modern life, then medievalism 
ended and times altogether new began. So 
much more rapid and radical than any other 
change through which civilization has ever 
passed was the transformation wrought by 
the introduction of machinery, the concen- 
tration of capital, the establishment of the 
competitive order, and the subdivision and 
organization of labor, that the appearance 
of these new factors among men is recog- 
nized as ‘the industrial revolution.’ More 
than anything else which had yet been intro- 
duced into the world, they began to weave 
human life itself, not only into a new pat- 
tern but into a new texture. In less than 
thirty years the new machinery virtually rev- 
‘ olutionized the world’s life and began to 
change the very face of the earth.’’ 

The familiar illustration of enumerating 
the persons who provided the breakfast 
which a certain man ate, serves to show the 
complexity and interdependence of modern 
life. The little dish of breakfast food (by 
‘‘Horce’’ we youngers obtain a good report) 
was rolled, boiled, baked, sweetened, and di- 

99 


SHOP TALKS 


gested by say fifty different Battle Creekers. 
Before it reached the Michigan state line it 
had been in various hands: the Iowa farmer, 
the Illinois freight brakeman, the Chicago 
elevator man, and others ‘‘too numerous to 
mention.’’ In leaving Battle Creek and ar- 
riving on the breakfast table, that portion of 
the repast has gone through the hands of a 
score of other men. Thinking of the wan- 
derings of this one article has deprived the 
eater of his appetite, so he now proceeds to 
read the morning paper. The cotton grew 
in Georgia; it was made into cloth in Eng- 
land; it was worn in Italy by a man who 
immigrated to America; a New Jersey junk 
man bought the ragged cotton garment; an 
Ohio paper mill made it into a sheet of pa- 
per which carried to a Chicago press part 
of the world’s record. The ends of the 
earth and its center also are brought to- 
gether in serving both body and brain of 
the man who eats breakfast. 

The industrial world disregards national 
boundary lines. The United States Govern- 
ment may require that ‘‘Made in Germany,”’ 

100 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


‘‘Made in England,’’ ete., be plainly in- 
scribed on all imported goods, but this does 
not prevent such importation. Chicago and 
Canton, Paris and Peking, London and Cal- 
cutta, all seek the same world market. The 
highly paid American workman (who pays 
dearly for what he consumes) comes into 
competition in the markets with the poorly 
paid, cheaply living workman of India or 
China. Upon the willingness of men in 
South Carolina to work depends the chance 
to labor of men in Massachusetts and Eng- 
land, for spindles cease to go if cotton does 
not grow. The Economic Empire, composed 
of various kingdoms of industry, extends as 
far as Morse and Field and Marconi can 
. Carry an expression of desire. 

As the world has become smaller, men 
have grown larger. Steam and electricity 
have made the world provincial and its 
inhabitants cosmopolitan. With the possible 
exception of the citizens of New York City, 
men generally recognize that each part of 
the earth contains charm and excellence. 
The sentimental appeal of home is not less 

101 


SHOP TALKS 


to-day than it was a hundred years ago, but 
home is a larger place than it was then. 
Loyalty to the realms of industry and re- 
ligion is increasing, while the old-time pa- 
triotism is decreasing. By this is meant the 
jingoism and spread-eagleism of the former 
Fourth of July oration. ‘‘My country, right 
or wrong,’’ is a sentiment which does not 
get the applause it once did. Patriotism 
must have a new definition to meet the ex- 
panding requirements of this fermenting era. 

There is food for reflection in the effort 
to determine how far Christianity is respon- 
sible for the present industrially broaden- 
ing horizons. That the expansion occurs 
only within the limits of Christendom with 
the single exception of imitative Japan, is 
certainly to be regarded as prima facie evi- 
dence of the Christian faith having produced 
our present economic expansion. A rebut- 
tal might be offered to the effect that our 
civilization is more the offspring of Greece 
and Rome than of Judea. However, we may 
observe that neither Greece nor Rome ever 
saw anything like the proletarian progress 

102 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


of these times. All that the proletariat rec- 
ognizes as inimical in our industrial condi- 
tions may be justly ascribed to Greece and 
‘Rome. The system of competition was the 
spur which drove those ancient pagan civili- 
zations to their highest attainments. Against 
the pagan law of competition both Christian- 
ity and enlightened social interest are set. 
Those pagan civilizations never overthrew 
human slavery. Even in Christian lands hu- 
man slavery has never been overthrown on 
moral grounds alone. But it is at least sig- 
nificant that where Christianity is virile and 
vigorous the economic grounds have always 
been produced and added to the moral 
grounds for the overthrow of slavery. Out- 
side of Christendom, now, there is but little 
social unrest. There was no social unrest in 
Greece or Rome such as we know. 

What fruit may be produced from such 
great seed thoughts as are involved in Chris- 
tian theism and anthropology we can not 
fully determine. It may seem to some like 
too comprehensive a generalization to make 
human brotherhood and industrial and po- 

103 


SHOP TALKS 


litical freedom corollaries of the doctrine of 
the Fatherhood of God, but it seems to me 
that history supports the belief that not un- 
til God’s Fatherhood was declared did men 
come to exalt the man of low degree. Pagan 
thought never coupled power and responsi- 
bility. Christians ascribe all power to their 
God and make His responsibility commen- 
surate with His might. Great power may 
not be used capriciously, selfishly. How be- 
neficent such a thought is, how far-reaching 
its applications, I have not the time or the 
ability to show, but that it has both exalted 
the humble and humbled the exalted there 
can be no doubt. That thought is essentially 
Christian. 

The missionary precedes the manufac- 
turer and the merchant. After the Christian 
missionary has blazed the path, the indus- 
trial hosts of Christendom have followed. 
We gave the Fijians the gospel, and now we 
sell them our goods. The missionary is the 
map changer, the boundary remover, the 
space annihilator. He makes neighbors of 
those who were aforetime greatly removed 


104 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


one from the other. It seems a pity that 
along the highways upthrown by the path- 
finders of religion should go the minions 
of Christendom’s purveyors of vice, but this 
is inevitable. Together with our material 
good we send our material ill in the wake of 
our spiritual best. Christianity, by the very 
force of its own expansion, has pushed out 
the borders of the modern Economic Empire. 
The solidarity of the race is becoming more 
and more manifest. Every new invention, 
every new application of mechanical princi- 
ples pushes men together. In these days we 
hear more of the ‘‘ Anglo-Saxon race’’ than 
we do of the ‘‘American’’ or ‘‘English- 
man.’’ ‘‘Teutonic Peoples’? is more famil- 
iar to our tongue than ‘‘German’’ or 
‘‘Swede.’? We say of the subjects of sev- 
eral rulers, who speak different languages, 
‘‘they are Slavs.’’ Thus we are coming to 
racial groupings rather than national, and 
are hastening toward a full recognition of 
St. Paul’s statement, ‘‘God hath made of 
one blood all the nations of men.’’ That 
which we call the ‘‘industrial revolution,’’ 
105 


SHOP TALKS 


together with the persistent and aggressive 
Christian propaganda of these days, is bring- 
ing about a condition of world relationship 
that is most desirable. Political geography 
will soon have little significance for the citi- 
ens of the republic of tools and for the sub- 
jects of the kingdom of God. 

The industrial revolution has brought to 
the surface of thought many new and per- 
plexing problems. Chief among these new 
problems is the one arising from the inalien- 
able right to work. That every man has not 
only the puty but the ricur to produce 
enough to sustain himself and family, is a 
very modern dictum. In former times it was 
thought sufficient to speak against vagrancy 
and shiftlessness by enforcing the purty of 
labor. We have Biblical warrant for saying 
with our fathers that the man who does not 
toil is a wrongdoer. Under our present in- 
dustrial system many a man is foreed into 
the immoral condition of idleness. The dif- 
ference between the slave who had to beg 
his master to give him a day of idleness and 
the man whom candidates for office refer to 

106 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


as a ‘‘free American elector,’’ who has to 
beg for a chance to work for a day, is all in 
favor of the slave. The problem presented 
by the unemployed is a serious one. The 
problem which is stated when we use the 
term ‘‘over-production’’ is another which 
presses for solution. In fact, upon the set- 
tlement of this problem depends largely the 
solution of the problem of the unemployed. 
Let me ask a simple question: Why should 
a panic result from over-production? If 
production did not equal consumption we 
can see how the fear of impending suffering 
and starvation might produce a panic, but 
when production exceeds consumption, why 
a panic? What kind of an abnormal condi- 
tion of society is it that will cause men to 
expect a panic as the result of industry and 
the favor of nature? ‘‘A’’ is a producer 
and a consumer. He produces 150 and con- 
sumes 100; result, starvation. This is a re- 
versal of Micawber’s familiar formula: ‘‘In- 
come, twenty pounds; expenditures, nine- 
teen six; result, happiness.”’ 

Yet, when civilization has known seven 

107 


SHOP TALKS 


fat years and has been so frugal that all 
store-rooms overflow, then must come the 
lean years, and men and women and little 
children lack bread while surrounded by 
overflowing granaries. If John Doe, a 
farmer, produces this year enough corn to do 
him two years, it is reasonable to expect that 
next year he will raise no corn, but not rea- 
sonable to expect that he will consume no 
corn. If Richard Roe and ten million other 
Richard Roes produce this year of all con- 
sumable articles enough to supply mankind 
for two years, it is reasonable to suppose 
that the ten million and one Richard Roes 
will not produce their articles next year, but 
it is not reasonable to suppose that they will 
not consume any next year. Yet when the 
workingman has produced a surplus, he is 
stopped from working and, not having re- 
ceived a just share of the mutual proceeds 
of mutual toil, he suffers and lacks proper 
sustenance until, on half rations, he reduces 
his own over-production. Such an industrial 
condition is an offense to both man and God. 

It is only the shiftless, the improvident, 


—:108 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


the intemperate who suffer want when out 
of work. Who says so? Only an ignorant 
theorizer would make that kind of an asser- 
tion. It is true that by far the greater por- 
tion of poverty is caused by improvidence 
and intemperance, but many a man of pru- 
dence and self-restraint has found himself 
without resource when he lost his job. It is 
true that many a man preys upon himself. 
His own vicious habits account for much of 
his material wretchedness, but society is so 
organized that stronger men also prey upon 
him. Not only should it be impossible for 
the weak to be victimized by the strong, but 
also it ought to be impossible for a man to 
prey upon himself to any considerable ex- 
tent. It should be society’s business to 
protect the individual from dangers that 
threaten him, (a) from his progenitors in 
the way of transmitted weakness; (b) from 
his contemporaries in the way of incitements 
to a kind of life which he can not maintain 
and from oppressive competition; and (c) 
from himself in the way of succumbing to 
the insatiate demands of poorly nourished 


109 


SHOP TALKS 


or overworked nerves. Where individual 
strength is insufficient for life’s grim strug- 
gle it should be supplanted by the collective 
strength of society. This is a Christian sen- 
timent. 

‘By way of introduction to a considera- 
tion of certain undesirable phases of our 
economic life, let us define the term ‘‘ Amer- 
ica.’?’ By America, when we use the term in 
ordinary speech, we mean the collective life 
of some eighty-five million people, their la- 
bors, their loves, their laughter, their tears 
and terrors, their hopes, their ideals. We 
mean cities and villages and rural solitudes. 
We mean New York and Chicago, Sleepy 
Hollow and Smith’s Cross Roads. We mean 
mines and mills, schoolhouses and churches, 
newspapers and theaters. In thinking of 
America one does not often think of the Con- 
stitution, of Congress, of the Supreme Court, 
or of the Executive. Our government is not 
our country. The country is greater than the 
government, the gentleman from Danville, 
Illinois, to the contrary notwithstanding. 
Since the American Revolution of 1776 the 


110 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


industrial revolution has changed the condi- 
tions of society, of human intercourse. Why 
should the grave-clothes that cover the fa- 
thers of the republic be used to bind the 
strong limbs of the young Western giant we 
call America? The spirit of the fathers lives 
and quickens; the letter of their deeds and 
thoughts is dead and kills. That spirit which 
caused them to struggle at Lexington and 
Yorktown for political freedom and their 
conviction of human equality will cause us 
of this new age to struggle on fierce though 
bloodless battlefields for industrial freedom 
and our own ever-growing conviction of race 
solidarity. We shall not be bound by the 
letter of inapplicable laws and customs. Pa- 
triotism is the maker, and not the follower, 
of precedents. The iconoclastic hands of 
Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, 
and Hamilton gave room for growth to the 
tree of liberty. Shall we destroy their work 
by binding that same tree with their lim- 
itations and confining it to the soil they 
cleared? No; we will advance upon the new 
territory which opens invitingly before us, 


111 


SHOP TALKS 


transplant the tree in larger areas, and thus 
prove ourselves worthy sons of worthy sires. 
The work which we must do in order to 
accomplish industrial freedom is outlined to 
some extent in the following quotation from 
Robert Hunter’s ‘‘Poverty:’’ 

‘‘T have elsewhere mentioned some re- 
forms which seem to me preventive in their 
nature. They contemplate mainly such leg- 
islative action as may enforce upon the en- 
tire country certain minimum standards of 
working and of living conditions. They 
would make all tenements and factories san- 
itary; they would regulate the hours of 
work, especially for women and children; 
they would regulate and thoroughly super- 
vise dangerous trades; they would insti- 
tute all necessary measures to stamp out 
unnecessary disease and to prevent unnec- 
essary death; they would institute all neces- 
sary educational and recreational institu- 
tions to replace the social and educational 
losses of the home and the domestic work- 
shop; they would perfect, as far as possible, 
legislation and institutions to make industry 

112 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE ~ 


pay the necessary and legitimate cost of pro- 
ducing and maintaining efficient laborers; 
they would institute, on the lines of foreign 
experience, measures to compensate labor for 
enforced seasons of idleness, due to sickness, 
old age, lack of work, or other causes be- 
yond the control of the workman; they would 
prevent parasitism on the part of either the 
consumer or the producer and charge up the 
full costs of labor in production to the bene- 
ficiary, instead of compelling the worker at 
certain times to enforce this demand for 
maintenance through the tax rate and by be- 
coming a pauper; they would restrict the 
power of employer and of ship-owner to stim- 
ulate for purely selfish ends an excessive im- 
migration, and in this way to beat down 
wages and to increase unemployment.’’ 

If any may say that he who proposes such 
changes is a violator of the letter and spirit 
of the Constitution, let him note that this 
spirit of democracy is already openly flouted 
by those who exploit our public resources 
for private gain. Class distinctions have 
been produced in our America, now mis- 

8 113 


SHOP TALKS 


takenly called ‘‘The Land of the Free.’’ This 
is no longer a land of equal privilege. What 
chance has a man of thirty with only mental 
and physical equipment, however great may 
be his strength of body and brain, when pit- 
ted in the struggle for existence with the 
multi-millionaire controller of a portion of 
nature’s resources? Through the ‘‘still lapse 
of ages’’ the sun toiled to produce and 
store within the bosom of the earth a erys- 
tallized form of its own energy, which we 
call coal. He who controls a portion of the 
world’s coal deposits has made a servant of 
that immeasurable strength which was held 
in leash by the hand of the Almighty and 
intended for common use. No wonder cer- 
tain coal barons have come to look upon 
themselves as divinely selected agents and 
media for wielding and transmitting Divine 
power. What chance has mere brawn and 
brain in the struggle against the released 
universal potencies of the Carboniferous 
age? When the earth sweats fat from all 
her pores for the enrichment of but a few 
oil men, what chance has an ordinarily 
114 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


equipped man? This is not a land of equal 
opportunity for all. 

We have turned over the exclusive right 
to the control of certain great natural re- 
sources and forces to a few men, and they, 
like the camel that got his head in the tent, 
have crowded us out altogether. These fa- 
vored few use the resources, which they 
wrongfully hold, to make war on weaker and 
less favored men. They drive competitors 
to ruin. Robin Hood robbed the rich and 
gave to the poor. These men rob rich and 
poor alike and keep the booty themselves. 
‘<The good old Rule, The simple plan, That 
he may take who has the power, And he may 
keep who can,’’ operates among our barons 
as much as it did among feudal lords. Be 
it understood in this connection that no at- 
tack upon the character of individuals as such 
is here intended. These men, who belong to 
the ‘‘predatory rich,’’? may, many of them, 
at least, be men of amiable dispositions, 
and upright in their conduct. They are 
the products of a wrong system. A flow- 
ing stream carries driftwood, of which some 


115 


SHOP TALKS 


pieces are thrown into more favorable posi- 
tions than others. Now, if the driftwood had 
life and selective appetencies and wills, the 
analogy would be perfect. Dam the stream; 
change the current; make a lake, do some- 
thing to more equitably distribute the oppor- 
tunities of life. 

Professor Rauschenbusch, in his ‘‘ Chris- 
tianity and the Social Crisis,’’ clearly sets 
forth the stake of the Church in the modern 
business world. Hear him as he speaks of 
‘“‘The hostile ethics of commercialism:’’ 

‘‘Christianity bases all human relations 
on love, which is the equalizing and society- 
making impulse. The Golden Rule makes the 
swift instincts of self-preservation a rule by 
which we are to divine what we owe our 
neighbor. Anything incompatible with love 
would stand indicted. Christ’s way to great- 
ness is through pre-eminent social service. 
Self-development is desirable because it helps 
us to serve the better. So far as the infiu- 
ence of the Christian spirit goes, it bows the 
egoism of the individual to the service of the 


116 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


community. It bids a man live his life for 
the kingdom of God. 

‘<The young adult in the most plastic time - 
of his development is immersed in an indus- 
trial life which largely tends to counteract 
and neutralize Christian teaching and train- 
ing. Competitive industry and commerce are 
based on selfishness as the dominant instinct 
and duty, just as Christianity is based on 
love. It will outbuy and outsell its neigh- 
bor if it can. It tries to take his trade and 
grasp all visible sources of income in its own 
hand. The rule of trade, to buy in the cheap- 
est market and sell in the dearest, simply 
’ means that a man must give as little to the 
other man and get as much from him as pos- 
sible. This rule makes even honest competi- 
tive trade—to say nothing of the immense 
volume of more or less dishonest and rapa- 
cious trade—antagonistic to Christian prin- 
ciples. The law of Christ, wherever it finds 
expression, reverses the law of trade. It bids 
us demand little for ourselves and give much 
service. A mother does not try to make as 
rich a living as possible, and to give a min- 

117 


SHOP TALKS 


imum of service to her children. It would 
be a sorry teacher who would lay awake 
thinking how he could corner a market in 
education and give his students as small a 
chunk of information as possible from the 
pedagogic ice wagon. The relation between 
a minister and a Church is Christian only 
when the Church pays him as well as it can 
afford to do, and he gives as whole-hearted 
and complete service as he can get out of him- 
self. There are some professions and some 
social relations which are in the main dom- 
inated by the Christian conceptions of soli- 
darity and service, and they are the only ones ~ 
that arouse our enthusiasm or win our love. 
Industry and commerce are not in that 
class 7." 

‘‘Kivery human institution creates a phi- 
losophy which hallows it to those who profit 
by it and allays the objection of those who 
are victimized by it. Thus M. Pobiedonest- 
zeff, the great procurator of the Holy Synod 
in Russia, taught the sacredness of the autoc- 
racy and thereby strengthened the hands of 
those who kept the people down. When al- 


118 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


coholism dominates the customs of a people, 
it weaves a halo around itself in the songs 
and social observances of the people, till joy 
and friendship seem to be inseparable from 
mild narcotic paralysis of the nerve centers. 
Similarly, the competitive industry has its 
own philosophy to justify the ways of busi- 
ness unto men. ‘Competition is the life of 
trade.’ ‘If every man will do the best for 
himself, he will thereby do the best for so- 
ciety.’ In short, the surest way to be un- 
selfish is to look out for Number One.”’ 
Having been for so long a time wooed 
by the tuneful song of the Socialist, let us 
turn to listen to the raucous-voiced indi- 
vidualist. It is true that he has the rough 
manner and hoarse shoutings of the Cave 
man, but perhaps justice is with him, and if 
so we should heed his guttural growls. He 
has survived for a long time and through 
many changes. Since the stone age unnum- 
bered centuries have fought the individual- 
ist with merciless forces of ice and flame 
and flood; but in the heart of the glacier he 
slew the polar bear, over the Alps he led his 


119 


SHOP TALKS 


elephants, under the Alps he drove his steel 
charger, and of great Atlantic he made a 
highway for commerce, a fishpond for gain, 
and a swimming-pool for pleasure. The in- 
dividualist has subdued the earth and is at- 
tempting to scale the heavens. The individ- 
ualist’s persistence in the face of so great 
opposition is an argument for his right to 
persist. . 

The son of one of the brainiest and, in 
my humble judgment, most upright of mod- 
ern business men, recently addressed his 
Bible class on the survival of the fittest. He 
declared that even as a hundred roses would 
have to be sacrificed in order to produce a 
perfect American Beauty rose, so a hundred 
less fit men and concerns would have to per- 
ish in the process of evolving the perfect 
type of American business man and business 
concern. In each case, he contended, the 
product was worth the price. That, from 
the individualist’s viewpoint, is the chief in- 
dictment against the trust. Socialism does 
-not oppose trusts. It looks upon these gi- 
gantic combinations of capital with favor. 


120 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


They are a step in the direction of Socialism. 
The individualist’s interests are lost to the 
sight of both the trust magnate and the So- 
cialist. Is it not well for us to pause before 
becoming avowed advocates of such a policy 
of ruthless individual sacrifice? I am more 
of a Socialist than I am an individualist, but 
I would seek some arrangement of industry 
whereby the interests of the individual would 
be subserved and conserved as well as the 
larger interests of society. This pure So- 
cialism does not provide. I have a friend, 
a manufacturer in a small way, with a 
business which, if not unduly hindered, 
will grow to large proportions. In conver- 
sation with him, not long ago, he declared 
his intention of resisting the interference 
of labor unions in the conduct of his 
business. He said: ‘‘In the beginning of 
this business, for the first two years, we 
ran at a loss, and the loss was not small 
either. During those two years there was 
not a man in our employ but what got 
his wages promptly. They didn’t offer to 
share any of our losses. They worked but 
121 


SHOP TALKS 


nine hours a day, when men of their craft 
elsewhere worked ten hours. Now, we in- 
tend to put them on a ten hours a day basis, 
and they threaten to strike. Not a man of 
them ever spent a sleepless night planning 
for the business, but I have spent many of 
them here at my desk. I have furnished em- 
ployment and wages to these men when I 
had to borrow the money to do it. Such 
men as Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller 
have earned immensely more than any man 
in their employ, and I, in a smaller way, 
have done the same. This is my business, 
product of my effort, and I ’ll run it to suit 
myself.’’ 

My friend states his position clearly, and 
who shall say he is not justified? No one 
doubts that such men as Mr. Carnegie and 
Mr. Rockefeller have earned far more than 
the ordinary man, and my friend is right 
in his contention that he deserves much more 
than any other man in any way connected 
with his business. In his statement of the 
extra time he devoted to the business is 
found the weak spot of both Socialism and 

122 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


great corporations. A merger of rights and 
interests will always have that weak spot, 
but Christianity’s demand of self-abnegation 
for the glory of God does not have that 
weakness. 

The Economic Empire is an invisible em- 
pire. The kingdom of God is not of this 
world. But the principles of these two 
realms operating in conjunction must make 
sweeping changes in governments that are 
tangible and seen and felt. National bound- 
. ary lines must cease to be barriers before 
the onward march of the two universal 
forces, industry and Christianity. ‘‘The par- 
liament of man, the federation of the world’’ 
is not realized at The Hague, but the day 
is not far distant when a high court of ar- 
bitration shall sit in some great Atlantic sea- 
board city and take cognizance of questions 
arising from the social, industrial, and re- 
ligious life of mankind. This international 
court of appeals will exercise, indirectly at 
least, legislative functions. Peace will then 
prevail in all the realms of human activity 
and intercourse. Before such a desirable 


123 


SHOP TALKS 


condition can obtain, industry and Chris- 
tianity, seeking their own perpetuity and 
freedom of development, will accomplish cer- 
tain changes among the nations, which I shall 
now briefly indicate. 

1. Militarism must die. Armies and 
navies must be disbanded. War lords must 
retire permanently from the stage of humar 
action. The reason why both industry and 
religion oppose militarism is so obvious as 
to make further comment on this topic un- 
necessary. 

2. The second change necessary, if the 
kingdom of God and the economic empire 
are duly recognized, is the creating of such 
laws as shall make monopoly of products and 
private control of public resources evermore 
impossible. This can probably be best ac- 
complished through a change in prevailing 
systems of taxation. The concentration of 
wealth among us is alarming. This concen- 
tration is due in large part to wrong taxation 
methods. 

John Spargo, in his book entitled, ‘‘So- 
cialism,’’? speaks of the concentration of 


124 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


wealth in the United States and gives some 
alarming statistics. He says: 

‘‘In this country the absence of income 
tax figures makes it impossible to get direct 
statistical evidence as to the distribution of 
incomes. The most careful estimate of the 
distribution of wealth in the United States 
yet made is that made by the late Dr. Charles 
B. Spahr. In quoting Dr. Spahr’s figures, 
however, I do not wish to be understood as 
accepting them as authoritative and conclu- 
sive. They are quoted simply as the conclu- 
- gions reached by the most patient, conscien- 
tious, and scientific examination of the dis- 
tribution of wealth in this country yet made. 
Dr. Spahr’s conclusion is that less than one- 
half of the families in the United States are 
propertyless; but that, nevertheless, seven- 
eighths of the families own only one-eighth 
of the national wealth, while one per cent of 
the families own more than the remaining 
ninety-nine per cent. Professor Ely accepts 
the logic of the statistical data gathered in 
Europe and the United States, and says, 
‘Such statistics as we have . . . all indicate 


125 


SHOP TALKS 


a marked concentration of wealth, both in 
this country and in Europe.’ 

‘«The growth of immense private fortunes 
is an undisputable evidence of the concen- 
tration of wealth. In 1855, according to a 
list published in the New York Sun, there 
were only twenty-eight millionaires in the 
whole country, and a pamphlet, published in 
Philadelphia ten years before that, in 1845, 
gave only ten estates valued at a million dol- 
lare or more. The richest of these estates 
was that of Stephen Girard, whose fortune 
was said to be $7,000,000. To-day it is es- 
timated that there are more than five thou- 
sand millionaires in the United States, New 
York City alone claiming upward of two 
thousand. Not only has the number of these 
immense fortunes grown, but the size of in- 
dividual fortunes has enormously increased. 
Mr. John D. Rockefeller is credited by some 
of the most conservative financial experts 
in the country with the possession of a for- 
tune amounting to a billion dollars, a sum 
too vast to be comprehended. Mr. Waldron 
estimates that one-twentieth of the families 

126 


THE ECONOMIC EMPIRE 


in the United States are receiving ‘one-third 
of the nation’s annual income, and are able 
to absorb nearly two-thirds of the annual 
increase made in the wealth of the nation.’ 
To the unbiased observer, nothing is more 
strikingly evident than the concentration of 
wealth in the United States during the past 
few years.”’ 

Militarism and monopoly must die. The 
larger patriotism of the future will stamp 
them both out of existence. In America that 
larger patriotism has been manifested occa- 
sionally. Our war with Spain; our dealings 
with Cuba and China; Mr. Roosevelt’s ac- 
tion in regard to the Russo-Japanese war; 
Mr. Roosevelt’s and Mr. Carnegie’s atti- 
tudes toward The Hague Tribunal; Mr. Car- 
negie’s utterances on the question of ‘war 
and tariffs; these and many other instances 
might be cited to show that a cosmopolitan 
patriotism, better called by the old name, 
philanthropy, is coming to be general among 
us. 

This generation is listening for the sound 
of that prophetic voice that shall address 


127 


SHOP TALKS 


Christianity’s aroused spirit and industry’s 
quickened matter, and bid them to unite and 
become one flesh in their fair offspring, a 
gloriously free society, moving with ever-in- 
creasing speed toward the far-off goal of 
racial perfection. Is it Professor Rausch- 
enbusch? or Professor Peabody? or Rev. 
Charles Stelzle? Or shall we wait for an- 
other? What colossal service Mr. Andrew 
Carnegie or Mr. John D. Rockefeller could 
render the human race! Beneficent as have 
been their contributions to human good, their 
previous contributions would be small in- 
deed in comparison with the service such 
men could render. Their money and their 
influence could speedily bring industrial and 
political peace. 

The prophet and the man of power and 
prestige will meet some day—perhaps soon— 
and out of that meeting will flow streams of 
blessing to all mankind. 


128 


THE SOCIAL VALUE OF A 
CHRISTIAN 





THE SOCIAL VALUE OF A 
CHRISTIAN 


CHRISTIANITY is not a solid, but a fluid. 
It is like a river. The unity and identity 
of the stream is preserved amid numerous 
variations. Christianity, beginning at Jeru- 
salem, has flowed across the centuries and 
across the continents, varying with environ- 
ment and adapting itself to ‘‘many men of 
many minds,’’ but always it has been recog- 
nizable as the same stream, and not another. 
A man who sees the Ohio at Pittsburg, and 
later sees it at Cincinnati, looks upon a dif- 
ferent landscape and waterscape from that 
_ which he saw in the first place, but he has 
no difficulty in recognizing the stream. Like 
the Ohio or any river, the stream which flows 
from Calvary has the same character, fol- 
lows the same general direction, accomplishes 
the same purposes, and tends toward the 
same destiny at all points in its course. 


j31 


SHOP TALKS 


Christianity is not bound by set forms. 
It is not a system of law; it is life. Yester- 
day’s creed was suited to yesterday and with 
accuracy described the Christian vitality of 
yesterday. The creed of to-day must pass 
with the day. To-morrow men will have to 
meet to-morrow’s necessities with a fresh ap- 
plication and adaptations of the truth. 
Christianity is not a religion of a creed nor 
of a Book, but of a Person. It consists in 
love and loyalty to Jesus. <A certain man is © 
self-centered; we call him an egoist. An- 
other man is centered in his neighbors; we 
eall him an altruist. A third man is cen- 
tered in society; we call him a socialist. But 
the Christian is none of these. He is a man 
centered in Jesus of Nazareth. In so far as 
a man loves Jesus, is loyal to Him, partakes 
of His nature, manifests His mind, just so 
far is he a Christian. 

The perpetuity of the ‘‘new and living 
way’’ is not dependent primarily upon state- 
ments of faith, nor upon the authenticity of 
Seripture, nor upon rites. It depends pri- 
marily and finally upon Jesus reproducing 


132 


SOCIAL VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN 


Himself in the lives and hearts of men in 
succeeding generations. Men with the mind 
of the Master must become sub-saviors of 
their fellows. When Mr. Stead, the London 
editor, told a converted harlot to return to 
her former surroundings and associates and 
“‘be a Christ,’’ he shocked the sensibilities 
of many, but he gave expression to a funda- 
mental principle of the faith. 

Christianity is the religion of society. It 
is not the religion of an individual nor of a 
race only, but of all mankind. The work 
which Jesus does for the individual is to fit 
him to sustain right relations with his fellow- 
man. Christianity adapts men to society. 
The ultimate end of individual salvation is 
social salvation. Concerning the relation 
which exists between the individual and so- 
ciety, it may be said that action and reaction 
are equal. A man affects his associates for 
good or ill, and his associates affect him for 
good or ill. Take some of the commoner 
Christian virtues for example. Who can 
doubt that Americans are more truthful than 
they otherwise would have been because of 


133 


> 


5 


SHOP TALKS 


the reputation of Washington in that re- 
spect. Had Abraham Lincoln been born 
among petty thieves and trained among dis- 
honest folk, would he ever have been known 
far and wide for his sincerity and fair, 
square dealings? It required a widespread 
social integrity to produce an Honest Abe. 
On the other hand, every youthful American 
who worships at the shrine of the hero Lin- 
coln will come to emulate his most marked 
virtues. Immense are the results of influ- 
ence flowing out of one life into many. Jesus 
likened it to the action of yeast upon the 
particles of meal. So shall the kingdom of 
God come, silently, without observation, by 
the action of the spirit of a righteous man 
upon the spirits of unrighteous men. 
Shakespeare put a half truth and a whole 
falsehood into the mouth of Mark Anthony 
when he made him say over Cesar’s dead 
body, ‘‘The evil that men do lives after 
them; the good is oft interred with their 
bones.’’ It is true that the evil that men 
do lives after them, but it is not true that 
the good is ever interred with their bones. 
134 


. 


SOCIAL VALUE OF A CHRISTIAN 


All the good that men do lives after them as 
well as the evil, but the good has greater vi- 
tality than evil. God has made health more 
catching than disease. 

George Eliot’s prayer will be realized by 
all the good, for after this life is ended they 
shall 


*‘Join the choir invisible 
Of those immortal dead who live again 
In minds made better by their presence; live 
In pulses stirred to generosity, 
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 
For miserable aims that end in self, 
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, 
And with their mild persistence urge man’s search 
to vaster issues. 
* * * * * * * * * 
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, 
And in diffusion ever more intense, 
So shall (they) join the choir invisible 
Whose music is the gladness of the world.’’ 


A being so constituted that his slightest 
word or action must make its impress upon 
outlying social consciousness is of vast im- 
portance to society at large. It therefore 
seems proper that after eight addresses de- 
voted to a consideration of Jesus in His di- 

135 


SHOP TALKS 


rect relations with human society, we should 
turn to note how Jesus indirectly impresses 
social conditions through the effect He has 
upon individuals. 

In the five addresses which follow this 
we shall see in two of them how Jesus failed 
to transform an individual, and in three ad- 
dresses we shall study His success with three 
different men. Jesus did not seek to per- 
petuate His teachings directly, but He sought 
to perpetuate Himself by reproducing Him- 
self in the characters and careers of others. 
We have no record of any committal to writ- 
ing of any of His teachings by the hand of 
Jesus. Once He wrote, but it was in the 
sand, and seems to have been an effort to 
cover a sinful woman’s shame. Jesus relied 
on making others like Himself. Of His suc- 
cess we shall judge by a study of Simon 
Peter, Thomas, and Nicodemus. Of the dis- 
astrous result of His failure we shall judge 
by a study of Judas Iscariot. May such 
studies afford us admonition and encourage- 
ment. 


136 





JUDAS ISCARIOT 


A Stupy IN SPIRITUAL GRAVITATION 





JUDAS ISCARIOT 
A Srupy In SprrituaL GRAVITATION 


‘“Awnp none of them is lost except the son 
of perdition.’’ 

Why is Judas Iscariot lost? Because he 
was and is the chief of sinners, for if he is 
still in hell it is evident that he is still an 
unforgiven sinner. But a man does not have 
to be the chief of sinners in order to go to 
hell; any unpardoned sinner will drift to 
torment. Besides, the question with which 
we began was designed to raise an inquiry 
into the cause of his superlative sinning. 
Judas is not in perdition because he betrayed 
his Friend and Benefactor into murderous 
hands. That was not an unpardonable of- 
fense. Judas did not repent of his wicked- 
ness. His disposition forbade repentance. 
He experienced remorse; doubtless even yet 
he knows remorse. Judas is in hell because 


139 


SHOP TALKS 


he desired to go there and desires to remain. 
Were his desires different his condition 
would be different. God did not put Judas 
in hell; he put himself there. God did His 
best to keep Judas out of torment. Judas 
is now in the place best suited to him. 
There must be adequate preparation for 
a supreme act, whether that act be good or 
bad. A man does not become either a great 
saint or a great sinner at a single bound. 
Character is the sum of many habits. A 
habit is the result of many acts. A man acts 
according to his disposition, and disposition 
itself is an effect as well as a cause. Dis- 
position is the product of forces converging 
from various directions. The force of he- 
redity operates. We are chips off the old 
block. The force of association helps to pro- 
duce disposition. Birds of a feather flock to- 
gether, and a dove among vultures will soon 
become like a vulture. Environment has its 
effect in forming disposition. ‘‘Mountain- 
eers are always freemen.’’ That proverb 
has only enough exceptions to prove it a rule. 
Squalor generates vice. Unfavorable out- 


140 


JUDAS ISCARIOT 


ward circumstances and surroundings, when 
not too severe, have a good effect in devel- 
oping strength. The University of Hard 
Knocks produces well-trained scholars. 

A myriad small things form the great 
compound which we call good or bad charac- 
ter. No supremely good or supremely bad 
act was ever done except by a supremely 
good or supremely bad character. The evo- 
lution of either a saint or a demon is a slow 
process. There is a story I have heard of 
a painter who wanted to contrast Jesus and 
Judas by placing them side by side on the 
same canvas. For several weeks he sought 
a model who could pose for the picture of 
Jesus. One day on the streets of his native 
Florence he met a young man of perfect form 
and feature, whose appearance was so gen- 
tle and guileless that he at once asked him 
to be his model for the picture of Jesus. The 
young man consented. Day after day the 
sittings continued until the picture assumed 
definite outline and form on the canvas. 
Then began a long search for some one who 
could serve as a model for Judas. The artist 

141 


SHOP TALKS 


was exacting. The model must be a man 
upon whom unmastered avarice, lust, ambi- 
tion, hate, and anger had stamped indelibly 
their black markings. He sought one upon 
whom sin had done all it could before bring- 
ing forth death. After twenty-five years his 
quest ended, as fomerly, in his native Flor- 
ence. It was behind the iron bars of a prison 
that he beheld a face so repulsive, so seamed 
and scarred by sin as to be frightful in- 
deed. Approaching the monster of ‘‘hide- 
ous mien,’’ the painter secured his surly 
consent to sit for a picture. The days 
passed in silence, the scowl on the model’s 
truculent countenance forbidding conversa- 
tion. It was during the last sitting, and the 
painting was nearly done, when the artist, 
wondering whether any other painter had 
ever noted the possibilities in such a model, 
inquired, ‘‘Did you ever sit for a picture be- 
fore?’’ The model laughed harshly. ‘‘Yes,’’ 
he growled, ‘‘about twenty-five years ago, 
when I was just a boy, I sat for a portrait 
of Jesus Christ.’’ In twenty-five years sin 
had changed him from a resemblance to 


142 


F 
_* 


JUDAS ISCARIOT 


Jesus to a likeness of Judas. The evolution 
of a demon may be a slow process, but if un- 
checked it is sure. 

Judas was the product of his early train- 
ing. It was not possible for Jesus to over- 
come the effects of the life preceding their 
acquaintance. Judas was a Pharisee. No 
Sadducee and no Essene ever followed Jesus. 
The “difference between the Sadducees and 
Jesus and the Essenes and Jesus was wide 
and radical. Judas, being a Pharisee, might 
reasonably be expected to share their pride 
and narrowness. He may have been a pa- 
triot—such a lover of his nation as those 
who, more than a century before his day, 
had followed the Maccabees to glory and 
death. Doubtless he desired to bring on a 
civil war, in which Jesus would fulfill the 
prevailing Pharasaic impression of the Mes- 
siah and, greater than Moses, lead His peo- 
ple out of a worse than Egyptian bondage. 
Perhaps his betrayal of Jesus into the hands 
of the enemy may have been an effort to 
compel his Master to resort to arms in self- 
defense. It may be that, like Virgil, Judas 

143 


SHOP TALKS 


could sing of no greater than arms and the 
hero. Ambition for power, fostered by con- 
stant reflection upon the Force that wrought 
miracles and grown to masterful hugeness, 
may have caused his act of treachery. But 
it is not ambition which St. John mentions 
as the ruling passion in the life of the traitor. 
Avarice is the moving force in Judas which 
is noted by the beloved disciple. In child- 
hood he may have been trained to frugality. 
The virtue of frugality may easily be exag- 
gerated into the vice of parsimony. A miser 
is covertly a thief; he may not steal in act, 
but he has the desire to do so. Recognizing 
the natural and acquired qualities in Judas 
which would make him careful of money, the 
disciples elected him treasurer of their lit- 
tle band. Did he ever dream of being min- 
ister of the treasury of a great kingdom? 
Being treasurer would nourish his love of 
money. When Mary broke the alabaster box 
of costly ointment in token of her love for 
Jesus, it angered Judas. ‘‘Why was not 
this ointment sold for three hundred pence 
and given to the poor?”’’ he churlishly asks. 


144 


JUDAS ISCARIOT 


Says St. John: ‘‘This he said not that he 
eared for the poor, but because he was a 
thief and had the bag, and bare what was 
put therein.’? He was what we to-day would 
eall a grafter, taking portions of the com- 
mon fund for his private use. The sordid- 
ness of the controlling motives in his career 
is shown by the fact that he required thirty 
pieces of silver for the betrayal of his Chief. 
The climax of wickedness in his case, as in 
every other, was reached step by step. Judas 
might have repented of his sin and have 
turned from it with loathing and horror, but 
the act of repentance would not immediately 
have made him a saint nor have fitted him 
for the society of the good. Growth in grace 
must follow conversion. Judas, however, did 
not repent. He experienced remorse, the 
gnawing of the worm we call conscience, but 
he could have found no place for repentance, 
even had he sought it with tears. Such a 
sin slays the soul. A corpse does not feel 
sorry because of the thing which made it 
a corpse. Yet, when emotion is dead, con- 
sciousness may survive. For a clod to know 


10 145 


SHOP TALKS 


that once it was a rose, and that it became 
a clod through its own willful and deliberate 
choice, may not be an occasion of pain to the 
clod; but for a rose to realize that by its 
own willful and deliberate choice it may be- 
come a clod might be an occasion of horror 
to the rose. Could a serpent as it crawls on 
the ground know that once it was an angel, a 
rebellious and from heaven exiled angel, it 
might mean nothing to the serpent. But for 
an angel, as he flies from throne to throne, 
to realize that he may by sin fall to the 
groveling level of a serpent, that would be 
a frightful thing. 

In the next discourse we shall see that 
God had no part in the doom of Judas, ex- 
cept the ineffectual one of trying to prevent 
it. Till then let our reflections upon this 
character be mixed with thoughts of our own 
frailty. 


146 


Ni oelue 








: Sid: Ya 
af mes 
° + 
wt 4 
tr “ 
* . - 
‘ 
. 
' 
‘ 
‘ 
ie 





JUDAS ISCARIOT—ConTINvED 


Gop did not foredoom Judas. ‘‘It must 
needs be that offenses come, but woe unto 
that man by whom the offense cometh.’’ 
God did not predetermine the character and 
conduct of Judas. To say that shifts the re- 
sponsibility for Judas’ sin from Judas to 
God, and God becomes the sinner. Offenses 
come by men, not by God. No man ever 
went to hell by the will of God. He sends 
no man to perdition. A man, however, may 
send himself there. ‘‘Judas, by transgres- 
sion, fell, that he might go to his own place.’’ 
He is in the place of his own choosing. God 
ean not take a soul to heaven in spite of it- 
self. Suppose He destroyed the sinner’s 
will and delivered Him thus from the pains 
and penalties of an outraged law. He would 
not have delivered a man, for with his will 
gone he is no longer a man. He has become 
a mere automaton, a machine. That would 

149 


SHOP TALKS 


not be the work of a Savior, but of a de- 
stroyer. 

Let us consider the law of the survival 
of the fittest. A plant or an animal sur- 
vives by virtue of its adaptability to its sur- 
roundings. Neither a man nor a mouse can 
adapt himself to the conditions of the bed 
of the ocean a hundred fathoms deep. The 
oyster, which thrives on the ocean’s bed, per- 
ishes on dry land. Polar bears, mosses, and 
lichens are suited to the far and frozen 
north. Oranges, orangoutangs, and palms 
flourish amid the summer shine of the trop- 
ics. A traveling menagerie in Southern Ohio 
ran out of ice and the Polar bear died of 
heat with the thermometer at 74 degrees 
Fahrenheit. Of all the preglacial animals, 
man is about the only survivor of that dread- 
ful influx of ice. His superior adaptability 
saved him. A man may adapt himself spir- 
itually to conditions which are found only in 
heaven. Accordingly to heaven he goes and 
there he survives. A man may adapt him- 
self spiritually to conditions which exist only 
in hell. To hell, therefore, in the merey of 


150 


JUDAS ISCARIOT 


God, not in His wrath, such a soul goes. As 
the men of the stone age made the condi- 
tions by which their survival was possible 
during the period of the glaciers, so a good 
man or a bad man creates his own neces- 
sary environment. Milton makes Satan say, 
““Myself am hell.’’ Had there been no hell 
until the night when Judas kissed Jesus, 
there had been one thereafter, or Judas 
would have ceased to be. There can be no 
immortality of evil men without a continu- 
ance of evil environment which they them- 
selves make. Judas went to his own place. 
In the long run of Providence there are no 
round pegs in square holes. 

Some men are found night after night 
amid the smoke and profanity of the bar- 
room. They are happier there than they 
would be in the atmosphere of a refined and 
cultured home. Take such a man out of 
such surroundings and put him in surround- 
ings calculated to appeal to his love of the 
beautiful, the pure and the true, and he 
would be ill at ease, unhappy. Some men 
prefer a concert, a lecture, an evening with 

151 


SHOP TALKS 


a great writer, or a service of prayer. Such 
men arbitrarily placed in the company of 
brawlers and hoodlums, amid conditions 
usually found where such vile persons gather, 
would be in torment. Men do not put pigs 
in parlors, nor plant orchids in barnyards. 

God did as much to accomplish the salva- 
tion of Judas as He did to save John. God 
did as much for Judas as He did for any 
man. The love of God goes out toward the 
betrayer in as boundless a fashion as it does 
toward any one who ever had being on this 
earth. Judas hurt God’s heart. Every sin- 
ner is a grief to the Sinless One. Wherever 
any child of God may be, absence from Him 
is an occasion of sorrow to the Father. 
Whittier greatly expressed a great truth 
when he wrote the lines which grow dearer 
as they grow more familiar: 

“I know not where His islands lift 
Their fronded palms in air ; 
I only know I can not drift 
Beyond His love and care.’’ 

Judas was not amenable to any of the 

sweet and strong influences of God’s grace. 


152 


JUDAS ISCARIOT 


To reach perdition he had to climb over 
mountainous obstacles which Jehovah up- 
piled in his course. The force of heredity 
would drive him toward righteousness. The 
power of his home-training was calculated, 
in the main, to make him a good man. The 
influence of association was against the deeds 
he did. During the last three years of his 
life he kept company with eleven men who 
became great saints. All that Jesus could 
do for his betterment was done. But he tore 
himself loose from the restraining arms of 
Divine love, walked over every obstacle, and 
waded through the blood of God incarnate 
into hell. 

Sad is the scene and horrifying, when 
into the presence of the guilty Sanhedrin 
strode the guiltier Judas. St. John observes 
that, when Judas went out to betray Jesus, 
“it was night.’? But blacker far than the 
natural darkness of the preceding night is 
the gloom that now enswathes the soul of 
the arch traitor. Down he throws the thirty 
pieces of silver: ‘‘I have sinned in that I 
have betrayed innocent blood.’? And the 


153 


SHOP TALKS 


Sanhedrin scorned him: ‘‘What is that to 
us? See thou to it.’’ Yes, the Sanhedrin 
scorned him. The disciples scorned him. 
The powers of darkness closed round him. 
Only God pitied him. He was afraid of 
himself; ashamed of himself; weary of him- 
self. He sought the cliff side. The dogwood 
tree bears now the ignominy of his name. 
Around a limb of the tree and around his 
neck the rope was tied. The rope broke. 
Upon the rocks beneath lay his gushed-out 
bowels. Concerning a redemption in which 
he could have no part, One was even then 
erying, ‘‘It is finished.’’ O, thou son of 
perdition, truly, it had been better for thee 
hadst thou never been born! 
Well does one in a certain place say, 


*“Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
The saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’ ”’ 


The punishment of Judas consists mostly 

in what he missed. He might have been 

numbered with the eleven. A man whom 

I knew well, when a boy was urged by his 

father to attend old Ewington Academy. 
154 


JUDAS ISCARIOT 


He steadfastly refused. The Civil War 
broke out, and the boy enlisted. For brav- 
ery on the field of battle he was offered a 
captain’s commission. Later he was offered 
the command of a colored regiment. In each 
instance he had to refuse promotion be- 
cause of his lack of intellectual equipment. 
O, the tragedy of the unprepared! On the 
battlefield of Saratoga Springs a monument 
great and tall stands to commemorate Bur- 
goyne’s Surrender. At each of the four 
corners of the base is a niche. In one niche 
stands a statue of General Schuyler; in an- 
other the statue of General Green; in a 
third the statue of General Gates. The 
fourth niche is empty. Noting this, one 
would probably conclude that the monument 
is unfinished. But not so. The fourth niche 
is empty by design. That is the place Bene- 
dict Arnold might have occupied.. So Judas 
might have been one of that 


“Glorious band, the chosen few 
On whom the Spirit came.’’ 
Who 
““Climbed the steep ascent of heaven, 
Through peril, toil, and pain.’’ 
155 


SHOP TALKS 


Imagination can paint a fair contrast to 
that scene on the rocks at the foot of the 
precipice. It is a picture of Judas given to 
repentance instead of remorse. He lingers 
around the rendezvous of the disciples, but 
ashamed and afraid to mingle with them. 
Early in the morning of the third day he 
is seen by the women who rush wildly from 
the empty tomb. In horror they turn aside 
at sight of the betrayer. ‘‘Thou Judas! 
darest thou come here?’’ And then Mary 
Magdalene makes the great announcement, 
‘‘Our Master lives.’? As three walk the 
highway to Emmaus, a man suddenly runs 
from a nearby rock and throws himself, 
groveling, at Jesus’ feet. O, matchless com- 
passion! O, conquering love of the Great 
Galilean! hear Him now as to the arch- 
traitor He says: ‘‘Rise, Judas, My brother; 
freely do I forgive thee.’’ . . . But faney 
paints a mirage in the desert of eternal in- 
famy. The son of perdition went to his 
own place. 


156 


SIMON PETER 





SIMON PETER 


A Man is judged by the company he keeps. 
What shall we say of the Great Galilean’s 
companions? They were men of vast and 
tempestuous passions; men of iron; men of 
elemental energies. The milksop or the 
‘‘mollycoddle’’ found no place among these 
men, who formed the inner circle of the Mas- 
ter’s friends. They were men capable of do- 
ing what the Titans failed to do, scaling the 
heavens of righteousness. They were also 
capable of such stupendous wickedness as, 
like the Titans, to lay waste the world. Con- 
cerning eleven of them it may be said that 
each was 

‘*A man that matched the mountains 
And compelled the stars to look our 
way and honor us.’’ 
Concerning one of them, what shall we say 
but that he gloomed the bottomless pit and 
sounded the abysmal depths reached by none 
other except rebellious Lucifer. 
159 


SHOP TALKS 


But these men of such Hereulean capaci- 
ties were poor and obscure. If any man 
possessing wealth or prestige became a fol- 
lower of Jesus, it was by forsaking his wealth 
and destroying his prestige. Were you or 
I to seek to start a new movement for the 
world’s betterment, we would try to enlist 
the favor of the rich and powerful. Not so 
Jesus. From the proletariat He chose mas- 
ter spirits, who were to subdue kingdoms, and 
work righteousness. A rich nobleman could 
not follow Him. An aristocratic ruler of the 
Jews had to be born again, and become a 
common man, before he could be a disciple. 

Jesus chose weak men of the earth, so 
far as temporal advantage goes, to confound 
. the mighty. But their weakness was only 
in temporal advantages. Judging Him by 
the associates He sought, we declare that 
Jesus must have been conscious of infinite 
resources within Himself to risk eclipse by 
contact with men of such vast force, and 
that He must have had great confidence in 
common men. 

Among the followers of the Prophet 

160 


SIMON PETER 


whom Nazareth drove from her borders, none 
were greater than Simon, son of Jona. He 
combined within himself to a very marked 
degree the qualities of courage, initiative, 
quickness of perception, readiness of sym- 
pathy, and decisiveness of action. Such qual- 
ities make a great leader of men. There was 
m Simon Peter all of the vigor and dash of 
a victorious cavalry general. He had but lit- 
tle of the poise and patience of a judge. 
When the battle raged Peter was indeed a 
‘‘rock’? of defense. Without an instant’s 
pause, he was ready to spring to any breach. 
Impetuous, like a mountain torrent, he car- 
ried all before him. That master of logic, 
Paul, thought it a matter of which he could 
well boast that he had withstood Peter to 
his face. 

Sometimes an inconspicuous servant of 
God performs a conspicuous service and 
knows it not. Many a man has brought to 
Jesus a greater than himself and, in the act 
of bringing the greater one into contact with 
the Greatest of all, has blessed the whole 
human race. Andrew, the comparatively ob- 


11 161 


SHOP TALKS 


scure disciple, found his own brother, Peter, 
and brought him to Jesus. Andrew began 
his efforts to do good in the place and with 
the man most accessible to his influence. 
How far that act of Andrew’s will reach, 
how great its possibilities of blessing, pos- 
sibly not even eternity can tell. 

Among the earlier incidents of Simon 
Peter’s life with Jesus is that of the return 
from the Capernaum synagogue on the Sab- 
bath to Peter’s house and the healing of 
Simon’s wife’s mother, who lay sick with the 
fever. This is followed the next day by the 
Carpenter taking possession of Captain Si- 
mon’s boat, using it for a pulpit and exer- 
cising authority which ordinarily belonged 
only to the skipper. From this boat to the 
people thronging the shore, Jesus preached 
till nearly noon. At the conclusion of His 
discourse he ordered Peter to ‘‘launch out 
into the deep for a draught.’’ Peter informs 
Jesus that during the whole night when, be- 
cause of the coolness, fish would be near the 
surface of the sea, they had toiled and caught 
nothing. Still, despite the fact that now 

162 


SIMON PETER 


from out the Syrian sky ‘‘those sunbeams 
like swords’’ were piercing fathoms deep 
into the water and driving the fish beyond 
the reach of their nets, Simon obeyed Jesus 
and cast the nets. With an amazingly large 
catch of fish, the wonder-working Prophet 
paid for the use of Peter’s boat. Jesus al- 
ways pays big wages for any service we ren- 
der Him. He pays far beyond the union 
scale. 

This incident shows how far Peter was 
under the control of Him, whom already he 
_was beginning to call Master. Here we catch 
also a glimpse of a quality in this great disci- 
ple, which seems at first glance to be hardly 
compatible with his very masculine courage, 
initiative and impetuosity. We here see 
Simon as a humble man. Humble he is 
throughout the incident, and at the close the 
narrative shows him on his knees in self- 
abandonment and self-surrender. Jesus 
reached Simon through his heart rather than 
through his head. He fell in love with Jesus. 
Love begat loyalty. All he did for Jesus 
was a labor of love. The Rev. John Robin- 


163 


SHOP TALKS 


son, D. D., a Scotch clergyman, in a sermon 
delivered in Columbus, O., a few years ago, 
related an incident of the battle of Cullo- 
den. Prince ‘‘Chairlie,’’ as the Scotch people 
called the bonny, winsome, and debonair 
claimant of the English crown, landed on 
the west coast of Scotland and dwelt in a 
Seagirt cave. Thither the clans gathered. 
Scottish chiefs from far and near came to 
the cave, swore fealty to Charles and de- 
parted to arm their hosts for war. But 
Lochiel, stout chieftain and stubborn, re- 
fused to enlist under the banner of the exiled 
prince. ‘‘Na, na,’’ said he, ‘‘I wilna fight 
for Chairlie. The bluid 0’ my men shall 
never run on English soil for the likes o’ 
him.’? And he steadfastly refused to con- 
sider the matter. Much depended on Lochiel. 
The friends of the prince urged him to visit 
the prince’s cave. This, after much coaxing, 
he consented to do. For three hours Lochiel 
was in close conversation with Charles. 
When he quit the presence of the prince, it 
was to return home and arm his followers 
for battle. Said the people, ‘‘He tint his 
164 


SIMON PETER 


hairt to Chairlie;’’ that is, he fell in love 
with the winsome prince. On the way south, 
a seer came out of a rocky crevice and 
warned Lochiel of personal danger in the 
forthcoming battle of Culloden: 


“‘Lochiel, Lochiel, beware of the day 
When the Lowlands shall meet thee in 
battle array,’’ etc. 


But he refused to heed the prophetic voice, 
and when Culloden’s conflict was at its 
height he fell, mortally wounded by spears 
that were aimed at the heart of Charles, 
and which Lochiel seeing, intercepted with 
his own body. He had fallen in love with 
‘‘Chairlie.’? So Peter fell in love with Jesus. 

Love for Jesus made Simon a large and 
liberal man. He was by nature and previous 
training a narrow formalist. Loving the 
largest and broadest and most tolerant and 
most open-minded among the sons of men, 
fitted him for leadership among both Gen- 
tiles and Jews. Like his Master and like 
his fellow-laborer, Saul of Tarsus, though in 
a less degree, Simon became ‘‘all things to 


165 


SHOP TALKS 


all men.’’? What an expansive power has af- 
fection worthily bestowed! 

Jesus must have had a serene confidence 
in the power of His own teachings, in the 
power of the truth, else He could not have 
trusted Simon. It is Professor Peabody, I 
believe, who remarks upon the delicate irony 
used by Jesus when He first called the son 
of Jona, ‘‘Peter’’—‘‘a rock.’’ At that time 
Simon was mere shifting sand, but associa- 
tion with Jesus changed him into ‘‘sand 
rock.’’ 

Peter was with the Master in all the 
great events of His life—the transfiguration, 
the Gethsemane agony, and other times. His 
connection with Jesus was of the most in- 
timate character. With his characteristic 
impetuosity he was ever ready to rush in 
where others feared to tread. He was in- 
clined to rudely rush into the holy of ho- 
lies of personal privacy. He was as impetu- 
ous in speech as he was in action. This im- 
petuosity was the occasion of frequent re- 
bukes on the part of Jesus. Yet Jesus rec- 
ognized in him one who in the main was 

166 


SIMON PETER 


trustworthy. Jesus does not seem to con- 
sider Peter’s denial as a matter of much 
consequence. He doubtless regarded his de- 
nial as but an eddy in the great stream of 
Simon’s life. 

Peter’s denial of Jesus, however, may not 
be dismissed with the scant consideration of 
a sentence or two. There are, in that act of 
perfidy, too many lessons for us to be jus- 
tified in giving it but superficial treatment. 
We shall, therefore, spend the time of our 
next meeting together mainly in a study of 
Peter’s backsliding. For this present talk, 
may we not offer a summary in conclusion 
to this effect: It is a great thing to have 
faith in God; it is a greater thing for God 
to have faith in a man? Despite his mani- 
fest and manifold weaknesses God had faith 
in Simon. So may we trust God, and may 
God trust us! 


167 





SIMON PETER—ContTINvED 





SIMON PETER—ContTInvED 


WE now approach with reverent step and 
solemn hush the scene of blood-sweating 
suffering which has made it evermore im- 
possible to think of an olive garden without 
thinking of tragic heartbreak. The supper 
was ended. The devil had put it into the 
heart of Judas to betray Jesus. With Peter, 
James and John, Jesus retires across the 
brook Kidron to a place called Gethsemane, 
a garden on the slopes of Olivet, where 
Jesus had probably often prayed. He leaves 
the three disciples and goes beyond them a 
little way to pray. Returning after some 
time spent in prayer, He finds the disciples 
asleep. Rebuking them, He again seeks re- 
tirement for prayer, for His ‘‘soul was ex- 
ceeding sorrowful even unto death.’’ After 
a third season of most earnest—‘‘agoniz- 
ing’’—prayer He gains the victory over in- 
ward perturbations, and returning to Peter, 

171. 


SHOP TALKS 


James and John, bids them arise, for they 
who sought His life were at hand. Then 
come five hundred of the thieves and thugs, 
the riff-raff of old Jerusalem, led by Judas 
and certain scribes and some Roman sol- 
diers. In the midst of the excitement and 
confusion incident to the arrest of Jesus, 
Simon Peter draws a sword and cuts off 
the ear of Malchus, a servant of the high 
priest. Ah, Simon, now you remember your 
oath of allegiance to Him whom you hailed 
as King of the Jews, taken not four hours 
previously. ‘‘Though all others forsake 
Thee, yet will not I forsake Thee.’’ Your 
spirit was willing, but your flesh was weak. 
“Then took they Jesus and brought Him to 
the high priest’s house, and Peter followed 
afar off.’? Arrived at the house, Peter 
stands among the vilest and most sinful un- 
til a fire had been kindled in the midst of 
the hall. Then Peter sits down among them. 
A friend of Jesus warms himself by the en- 
emies’ fire. He sees how utterly helpless 
he is, surrounded by such a hostile host. His 
courage begins to seep away. Soon comes 
172 


SIMON PETER 


one who accuses Simon of following Jesus. 
Then come the words by which Simon Peter 
passes sentence upon himself—a sentence, 
the execution of which has placed the unfaith- 
ful denier upon a pillory of shame before the 
eyes of all the ages. 

The thrice repeated denial of Jesus on 
the part of Peter seems almost what science 
would call a reversion to type. Was there 
some strain of vicious blood which became 
for the time dominant? From what ances- 
tral pit was such an act digged? This de- 
nial was a contradiction of Simon’s real self. 
We have called him a courageous man. This 
was the act of a coward. We have noted 
his candor, his sincerity. In this act he 
lied. We have referred to him as a rock 
of defense in times of stress and strife 
when his principles were being warred upon. 
This was the act of a traitor. We have com- 
mented upon his love for Jesus. Love be- 
gets gratitude. This was the act of an in- 
grate. Coward, ingrate, liar, traitor, - all 
“this Simon became in one short hour. Yet 
all his sin and shame arose from that most 

173 


SHOP TALKS 


shameful condition known to men—coward- 
ice. Simon became panic-stricken. Then he 
was ready for any deed, however contempt- 
ible. It may be laid down as a general prin- 
ciple that when any follower of Jesus for- 
sakes Him, the first step is one of coward- 
ice. A coward can not be a good man. 


“Sure I must fight, if I would reign; 
Increase my courage, Lord. 

I ’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, 
Supported by Thy Word.’’ 


Courage is the first requisite of a good 
character. Simon, the courageous, who cut 
off the ear of Malchus, now trembles in 
craven cowardice. It is almost incompre- 
hensible. 

After the third denial and the cock had 
crowed, Jesus turned and looked upon Peter. 
The reproof of that look was sufficient. 
There was doubtless only sorrow and infinite 
yearning and compassion in that look; cer- 
tainly there could have been naught of an- 
ger or resentment in it. ‘‘And Peter went 
out and wept bitterly.”’ That was what 

174 - 


SIMON PETER 


saved him. Not his weeping, to be sure. We 
sing truth when we sing, 


‘*But drops of grief can ne’er repay 
The debt of love I owe. 
Here, Lord, I give myself to Thee ; 
’T is all that I can do.”’ 


Not his weeping, but the contrition which 
caused the tears saved Simon. 

Comes the cruel tragedy. Jesus, amid 
thorns and jeers, blows and spittal, and con- 
tumely beyond description, is led to the place 
of a skull. There they crucify not Jesus 
only, but themselves also. There a nation 
commits suicide. There in the name of re- 
ligion, incited by religious votaries, a race 
smears itself with innocent blood and plunges 
into everlasting obloquy. For the Victim 
an earth-rending resurrection; for the mob 
a worse than Sadducean death. Not only, 
as the Sadducees believed, is their death an 
endless one, but their disgrace is unmiti- 
gated. 

Follows a Sabbath of sorrow. A signifi- 
cant phrase of one of the evangelists refers 

175 


SHOP TALKS 


to the disciples and other followers of Jesus 
and describes their grief, ‘‘As they mourned 
and wept.’? But that phrase prefaces the 
announcement that their Master was Death’s 
Master also. The Sabbath which came be- 
tween crucifixion Friday and resurrection 
Sunday offers opportunity for the imagina- 
tion to paint pictures of woe. Call you to 
mind that time when you turned away from 
the graveyard in which you had left the body 
of one whom you loved. You entered the 
home which your beloved had made a place 
of song and laughter. The very walls 
seemed resonant with echoes of her words. 
You opened a closet, and there were the gar- 
ments she used to wear. The wound of your 
grief was opened afresh at every turn you 
made. You sat with other friends and gave 
vent to your sorrow. Perhaps to your grief 
was added the poignant reflections upon un- 
kind words which you had spoken to the one 
who was gone beyond the possibility of hear- 
ing you sob out your request for pardon. 
Your woe was increased by thoughts of the 
neglect of kindly and courteous deeds to the 


176 


SIMON PETER 


departed. Pitiable, indeed, is the grief of a 
love that realizes too late that it has failed 
to properly express itself. Some of the dis- 
ciples had the grief of knowing that they 
had wronged one who had loaded them with 
blessings. Chief and most hopeless of 
mourners, doubtless, must have been Simon 
Peter. The sadness of your parting from 
your loved one was tempered by thoughts of 
a joyful reunion. Hopefully your eyes 
turned from God’s acre here on earth to 
God’s infinite acres on the green hillsides of 
the Promised Land. Simon had no such com- 
fort. Even had the Sadducees been wrong 
before, they were right now, for the Lord 
of Life was dead. He in whom Peter had 
trusted was dead. If perchance there came 
to Pharisee-trained Peter the thought that 
Israel’s Jehovah would receive the soul of 
the departed Prophet, there could not pos- 
sibly come to him the hope that he himself 
would ever in the dim land of spirits behold 
the face of Jesus again. Had he not for- 
feited his claims to immortality? And the 
One whom his soul loved, the One who was 


2. 177 


SHOP TALKS 


to him the ‘‘Rose of Sharon,’’ the ‘‘Lily of 
the Valley,’’ the ‘‘Fairest among ten thou- 
sand, and the One altogether lovely,’’ had 
never heard his words of penitence. With 
what insane grief Simon must have writhed 
and twisted through that awful Sabbath! 
O, unmanly coward! now you know that it 
were better a thousand-fold to have suffered 
with Jesus than to suffer without Him. So 
the leaden-footed hours dragged by. 

‘* And when the Sabbath was past’? Mary 
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, 
and Salome, having gone very early in the 
morning to the sepulcher to anoint the dead 
body of their Master, are sent rushing jubi- 
lantly through Jerusalem’s streets with such 
a message as never before was delivered by 
any messenger. ‘‘He is risen.’’ ‘‘Go, tell 
His disciples—anp Prrer—that He goeth be- 
fore you into Galilee.’’ In the room of 
mourning, who is this that sits apart from 
the others, his face gray, seamed, and drawn? 
Who is this with his cape drawn over his 
head, a prey to stony grief? Simon hears 
the woman’s words, even though vibrant joy 


178 


SIMON PETER 


trips her tongue almost to incoherence. 
Well the faithful disciples may dash from 
the room in exultant haste. It is not for the 
likes of him to seek a risen Master. But 
does Mary notice his hesitancy? ‘‘Yes,’’ 
He said, ‘‘and Peter, too.’’ Thou art in- 
cluded, also, Simon. Hard behind the 
younger and swift-footed John runs now the 
man of action, his courage restored. First 
inside the sepulcher is Simon. 

When Jesus and Simon met, what then? 
O, Simon, how happy art thou, for into ears 
that hear and are made glad thereby thou 
canst pour a penitent’s prayers! Thou art 
not only forgiven, but hailed as a friend, a 
brother beloved! 

Fifty days thereafter, who but Peter can 
serve as the rock of Christian defense, as 
he stands and boldly charges the rulers of 
Israel with the murder of Jesus. Pentecost 
robbed of Peter would perhaps have been 
a smaller day. 

The years pass; toilsome years, fruitful 
years; and Simon, son of Jonas, faithful 
under-shepherd, feeds the lambs and the 

179 


SHOP TALKS 


sheep for the Great Shepherd of the Fold. 
Whether it were in the house of Simon, the 
tanner, or that of Cornelius, the centurion; 
whether it were in Samaria or Rome, he is 
as faithful as when in Capernaum or Jeru- 
salem. Persecution but hardens his resist- 
ing qualities. He knows it is better to obey 
God than to obey man. Threats are of no 
avail to turn him from his straight course 
of service. Nero’s reign and Nero’s rage 
have reached their bloody height. Saul of 
Tarsus now wears the myrtle crown. The 
Christians of Rome, according to a legend 
which some believe to be fact, and all 
recognize as true—true to the characters 
involved—beseech Peter to flee for his life. 
The specious argument is offered that his 
life is of vast importance to the Church. 
According to the legend, Bishop Peter con- 
sents to leave. With a servant he de- 
parts. A few miles beyond Rome the 
aged apostle perceives a great brilliance 
approaching him on the highway. The 
light draws nearer. The servant is star- 
tled at beholding his master on his knees. 


180 


SIMON PETER 


Then Peter speaks, ‘‘Whither goest Thou, 
Master?’’ The voice of Jesus replies, ‘‘To 
the city, to be crucified afresh.’’ The denier 
returns to Rome. Whether this legend be 
true or not, it is fairly well authenticated that 
Peter did die at Rome during Nero’s great 
persecution. Crucified with his head down- 
ward, not deeming himself worthy to die in 
the same posture as did his Master, he ‘‘ren- 
dered up the last full measure of devotion”’ 
to the cause and the Christ he had loved so 
long and so well. 

May this study of his character and ca- 
reer be to us an inspiration to live at our 
best and die at our highest! 


181 





JESUS AND DOUBTERS 





“ . 

> 

ar 
es. é : 

¢ 2 bad 
; ny f - 

“7 “ 

rs 2 

- . 
. y “ 


JESUS AND DOUBTERS 


Amone many there is a misapprehension 
of the attitude of Jesus toward the intel- 
lectual faculties of man. Faith is by them 
understood as the antithesis of science. The 
truth is that faith is the forerunner of any 
systematized knowledge. Faith leads to 
discoveries. It causes the explorers in all 
realms to begin a search for those paths 
which lead to the flowering and fruitful fields 
of knowledge. Some one, remarking upon 
the vital connection between the spiritual 
and the material, has declared that before a 
bushel of corn became a bushel of corn and 
before a house became a house they were 
ideas. It is true that before the tangible 
realization there was in the mind of some 
man the notion of the thing to be realized. 
The purpose to realize the notion was a 
faith-inspired purpose. Without faith there 
ean be no works of any kind, and all works, 

185 


SHOP TALKS 


whether in the material or in the spiritual 
realm, are an evidence of faith. 

It is commonly supposed that Jesus de- 
mands an unreasoned and unreasoning be- 
lief in Himself. An unreasoned belief in 
Jesus would be an unreasonable require- 
ment. Jesus appeals to man’s judgment as 
well as to his affections. His statement of 
truth is dogmatic, but He dogmatizes only 
in the way the mathematician dogmatizes 
when he declares that a straight line is the 
shortest distance between two points. Jesus 
puts His statement of truth in the form of 
axioms. If His dogmas do not find accept- 
ance in the mind of any given man, that man 
is not expected to have faith in the teach- 
ings of Jesus. But that man is expected to 
approach the teachings of Jesus with his 
mind open. He does himself a serious in- 
jury who closes his mind at any time against 
the entrance of new truth. I affirm it as 
my conviction that an honest doubter, a sin- 
cere heretic, pleases Jesus better than one 
who without thought claims to have ac- 
cepted the doctrines of Christianity. The 


186 


JESUS AND DOUBTERS 


man who can not give a reason for the faith 
that is in him does not reflect credit upon 
himself and but poorly serves the cause of 
Jesus. 

Not all the bigots are found among the 
followers of the Nazarene. His opponents 
usually betray great passion and narrow- 
ness. The honest doubter is not an opponent 
of Jesus. He is as far from being an op- 
ponent as he is from being an advocate. 
Most skeptics, in these days, are infidels. 
Their intellectual attitude is one of pride. 
It was this intellectual pride, as manifested 
by the Pharisees, which called forth the most 
severe denunciations from Jesus. He was 
impressed with the woefulness of the condi- 
tion of the man who had closed his mind 
against the entrance of new truth. It is not 
better nor worse with the soul of the bigot 
who is for Jesus than with the soul of the 
one who is against Him. In each case such 
a soul has ceased to grow. 

With two conspicuous doubters Jesus 
dealt while here in the flesh. Both were 
open-minded searchers for the truth. One 


187 


SHOP TALKS 


was a man trained in the philosophy and 
logic of his day. We may perhaps hesitate 
to call him a scholar, but we shall at least 
admit that he was an educated man. I re- 
fer to Nicodemus. The other was a natural 
skeptic. So far as we know he did not 
have the advantages of the schools. Of 
course, his mind was trained by the in- 
cidents and accidents of life, but such 
training is seldom well directed. He came 
under the training of the world’s greatest 
Teacher at a time when he was not as 
susceptible to truth as he had been in the 
more plastic period of youth. I refer to 
Thomas. The development of these two men 
forms an interesting study as showing the 
method of Jesus with candid doubt. 

Thomas, the open follower, was the more 
skeptical of the two. Nicodemus came to 
Jesus questioningly, but his questions were 
those of a candid inquirer. Thomas ex- 
pressed his doubt most emphatically. But 
he was never a willful and hostile doubter. 
There are two classes of credulous men, and 
but one class of incredulous. The very 


188 


JESUS AND DOUBTERS 


learned and the very ignorant are both cred- 
ulous. The half-educated man is almost al- 
ways skeptical. ‘‘A little learning is a dan- 
gerous thing.’’ Such a man makes unwar- 
ranted generalizations; he argues from false 
premises. He has learned to despise the 
terror by night and proceeds from that to 
be incredulous of the pestilence that wasteth 
at noon-day. The pestilence destroys him. 
Of the two extremes who are inclined to be 
credulous, the ignorant and the learned, one 
walks amid a thick fog, the other stands on 
a great altitude and views a wide horizon. 
The fog-bound man so frequently stumbles 
over unexpected things, is so frequently as- 
tonished by surprising occurrences and acci- 
dents that his world becomes to him a won- 
derland. His credulity is born of supersti- 
tion. The man of learning, from his altitude 
and far-stretching view, has learned his own 
limitations and the limitations of the world 
of things. There are so many things in the 
distance which he sees but dimly that he 
is credulous of any shape for them. To him 
the reach and scope of the natural are so 


189 


SHOP TALKS 


great that he is made credulous of the super- 
natural. His credulity is the result of rea- 
soning from the vastly known to the related 
unknown. Thomas was the more skeptical 
of the two because he was the more ignorant. 

But these two characters are useful, not 
merely as a foil in displaying the superior 
excellence of Jesus, but as examples to us 
also, for they had their own excellences. Not 
the least among their desirable characteris- 
tics is their openness of mind. The mind of 
Thomas was opened by love for Jesus. It 
was his friendship for the Man of Galilee 
that finally induced acceptance of statements 
to which his mind was naturally opposed. 
And yet, despite the love leadings to which 
he was subject, it required cold, substantial 
material fact to convince him of the reality 
of the startling and stupendous declarations 
the other disciples were making concerning 
an empty tomb and a risen Lord. He re- 
quired the evidence of two senses, sight and 
touch, and Jesus met the requirement, though 
saying that the more spiritual-minded men, 
who should spiritually discern Him, were 

190 


JESUS AND DOUBTERS 


the more blessed. And by so much as Spirit 
transcends matter, by so much as the burn- 
ing heart of the singer transcends the mat- 
ter-of-fact brain of the practical man, by that 
much they who see Jesus by the inward light 
of the soul are greater, and more blessed 
because greater, than was Thomas. But 
within the natural limitations of the prac- 
tical mind Thomas preserved his own integ- 
rity, and, being true to himself, was not false 
to Jesus or any man. 

Though Thomas was ‘‘slow’’ of heart to 
believe,’’ he was not, like some of the other 
more mercurial and volatile disciples, swift 
of foot to run away. When Jesus, against 
the protests of His followers, ‘‘set Himself 
steadfastly to go up to Jerusalem’’ on that 
last and doom-dreadful Passover occasion, 
Thomas said, ‘‘Let us also go, that we may 
die with Him.’’ The motives which inspired 
this utterance of the doubting disciple are 
mixed of many ingredients, but even if we 
do detect despondency therein, I think we 
must agree that the words sprang principally 
from love and devotion to the Master. Ay, 


191 


SHOP TALKS 


Thomas, thine was not the utterance of a 
coward’s despair, but the courageous deter- 
mination of a lover of the Lord. And we, 
who love the Lord also, hail thee as one of 
the choice spirits in that ‘‘goodly company 
of Heaven.’’ For thy love ennobles thee. 
When the stigmata had been shown him 
by Jesus, and Thomas had seen the nail 
prints and to him other indisputable proof, 
there was drawn from the lips of the doubter 
the joy-vibrant cry of worship and adora- 
tion which has rung down the centuries and 
has struck responsive chords in the hearts 
of men of all generations. ‘‘My Lord and 
my God.’’ Dispelled are all the doubts of 
Thomas. In the joy of a profound convic- 
tion he fulfills a glorious apostolate. 
Professor Peabody, in his lectures on 
‘The Religion of an Educated Man,’’ so dis- 
criminatingly discusses the evolution of Nic- 
odemus that I would do you an injustice if 
I gave you only my own words. Hear, there- 
fore, Professor Peabody on Nicodemus: 
‘‘In three widely-scattered passages of 
the Fourth Gospel there are written the three 


192 


JESUS AND DOUBTERS 


successive chapters of this evolution of a 
scholar’s faith. It is the case of a man 
named Nicodemus; and the story of his life 
is a summary of all that we have said. He 
was not, like most of those who came to 
Jesus, a fisherman or peasant; he was a cul- 
tivated gentleman, bred in the schools of 
learning; and the message which he could 
receive must be a message to the scholar. 
He came to Jesus, first of all, not with the 
noisy crowd, but in a quiet hour, when he 
could calmly study truth. It was a prudent 
plan. On that uninterrupted evening Jesus 
made His great demand of the scholar, that 
he should become a child again if he would 
receive perfect truth. ‘Except a man be 
born again he can not see the kingdom of 
God.’ The scholar goes out into the night, 
unconvinced and unconverted, saying, ‘How 
can these things be?’ and for two years we 
do not hear of him again. But what a 
change has come over his mind when once 
more Nicodemus steps out of the shadowy 
background of the gospel. He has proceeded 
from childlikeness to candid sympathy, from 


13 193 


SHOP TALKS 


obedience to fidelity. The message of Jesus, 
he now says, shall have its hearing. ‘Doth 
our law judge any man before it hear him?’ 
The truth has now approached the scholar, 
as the scholar at first approached the truth. 
Nicodemus is no longer a critic; he has be- 
come the brave and patient student, the can- 
did judge of truth. Then once more this 
cultivated gentleman disappears from the 
record until the life of Jesus ends. The 
truth seems nailed upon the cross and bur- 
ied in the grave. Pilate has said to Jesus, 
‘What is truth?’ and then has added, ‘Take 
Him away and crucify Him.’ It is the mo- 
ment when all who believed in Him have fled. 
At that moment comes once more the scholar 
—he who had once wanted to debate and 
judge. He comes no longer to criticise or 
to defend, but silently and loyally to serve. 
He brings his myrrh and aloes for the body 
of Jesus—nay, he brings his own life as an 
offering for the truth which he has learned 
to love. At the moment when the truth 
seems defeated the evolution of the scholar’s 
religion is fulfilled. Step by step the mind 


194 





JESUS AND DOUBTERS 


of the educated man has moved, from criti- 
cism to sympathy, from sympathy to sacrifice, 
until at last, precisely when many an un- 
trained mind takes flight, it is the scholar 
who brings the rational offering of service 
as his answer to the message of the Christ.’’ 
I trust that this discourse on ‘‘ Jesus and 
Doubters’’ may have fruit in making us 
more broadly tolerant even as was the Great 
Teacher. May we henceforth realize, also, 
that Jesus invites honest and sincere study 
of Himself. Jesus would convince the reason 
and capture the heart. He would have faith 
lead to knowledge, and knowledge to in- 
erease faith. He would have a thought-be- 
gotten, love-inspired loyalty. May we, like 
Thomas and Nicodemus, render great serv- 
ice to the Master, in whom, because of in- 
vestigation, we have been led to believe. 


195 














UNUM 








